Countdown to Regeneration
by PurinJPG
Summary: My take on the Mega Man series and takes place in an alternate universe. For now, it's a mixture of the Classic series with the X series, as well as a little bit of Ruby Spears thrown in. Now playing: Mega Man 1
1. The Iceman Cometh

_Authoress' note:_

_Countdown to Regeneration, otherwise known as "Megaman Regeneration", is based on the Mega Man franchise by Capcom. I'll do my best to keep this story unique and interesting, as well as watching out for the occasional grammar errors. Enjoy!_

* * *

A young man wearing blue armor with a black bodysuit underneath is strapped to a chair, rendering him defenseless. He is looking at two mechanical goons, one with a pair of scissors on top of his head and another who is buff and well-built.

"I liked you better when you didn't have that blue armor and that large "X" scar on your chest!" Said the robot with the scissors on his head. "You were a lot more defenseless back then, Rave. Or should i say, _X?_" He let out a wheezy laugh.

"I liked you better when you weren't going Maverick either, Cutman." Rave replied. "Same with you, Gutsman."

"Maverick?" Gutsman yelped, "Where the heck did you get that idea from?"

"You either being reprogrammed, caught a virus or have really lost your minds," Rave replied to Gutsman, "You know what I'm talking about."

"Once we find your little brother and your little sister, we're going to cut them down to size!" Cutman laughed. That made Rave very mad, and very protective of his siblings. He really wanted to be free from Gutsman and Cutman's grasp, and making sure they're safe from the two.

"You are not getting my siblings!" Rave yelled at the two.

Gutsman began to pick up Rave, who is still strapped to the chair, he doesn't seem to be impressed by Gutsman's threats against the possible Blue Bomber. "Let's see if you like this, Blue Dweeb!" The giant robot threw Rave right out the window, landed into the pavement. At least he threw him out from the first floor. imagine what he felt if Gutsman threw him out from the top floors of the building.

Luckily, Rave survived the fall and the chair broke to pieces, freeing the man from the restraints and the chair itself. _"Bad move, Gutsy,"_ He thought. _"That chair is made out of wood!"_ Despite this, he is injured from being thrown off the window, as he begins to crawl back up, limping.

He isn't giving up that easy, he wants to make sure that Gutsman and Cutman's not going to escape from him. Sure, they used to be domestic robots, until they started to act like _Mavericks,_ according to Rave.

_"If Gutsman and Cutman are affected, then Elecman, Iceman, Fireman and Bombman might be in danger, too!"_ He went back inside of the building to see if Gutsman and Cutman's still there, unfortunately, they escaped. "Great. Just great." He teleported to a laboratory, assuming it's his home, only to see it ruined.

He saw an elderly man with a white beard similar to Santa Claus', wearing a white lab coat with a shirt and tie underneath, red slacks and brown shoes, lying on the floor. Rave checked on the man, seeing if he's okay.

"Dad!" Rave shouted, the man woke up and regained consciousness, he looked at Rave with a horrified look. "They took Rock and Roll!" The man shouted.

"Who did?" Rave spoke.

"The rest of the robots," The man replied to his son.

Rave knew it was going to happen sooner or later. He carried his father to the couch, only suffering a few bruises, otherwise nothing serious except seeing Rock and Roll taken away by the other robots besides Gutsman and Cutman.

"Did you see anyone reprogram the robots?" Rave spoke.

"No," The man replied. "Whoever it is, might've left the laboratory before we got a good glimpse of them."

Rave has no other choice but to rescue Rock and Roll, get the domestic robots under control and find whoever made them act like this. He sees a small robot with a yellow hard-hat on top, it looks like a black puffball with eyes and yellow feet. "Did they hurt you?" He asked the hard-hat robot.

It shook its head "no", which gives Rave a bit of relief. "I want you to take care of my father for me," He replied, "And make sure no one else gets inside of the laboratory!" The small hard-hat robot took Rave seriously while he left the laboratory, and giving his father medical care while he left.

Somewhere in a desert field, nothing else is seen except for a building with a giant skull head on top and an aircraft with a (you guessed it!) skull head on the front, landing on the building's aircraft carrier. After it landed, the other reprogrammed robots exit the aircraft with Rave's younger brother-and-sister duo, Rock and Roll.

"What's keeping Gutsman and Cutman?" Said Bombman, the pudgy robot with a mohawk on his head. "They outta be back with their older brother by now."

"No idea," replied Fireman with a flaming torch on his head. "We did a good job bringing Rock and Roll to justice."

"Pffft! Justice?!" Elecman added, carrying Rock and Roll, "You've got to be joking! That's probably Rave's thing, not yours."

"Shut up, Electro-wannabe!" Fireman shouted at Elecman. "Just be lucky you're not trapped in a giant spider web."

"Touche," Elecman finished.

"Ugh, what's up with the skeleton obsession?" Rock spoke, who has brown hair and green eyes, wearing a light blue shirt, blue shorts and blue/white sneakers. "I never seen a place that _tacky_ before!"

"Watch what you say, Rocky boy," Fireman spoke, "Wily always have an obsession of skulls and skeletons since he was a teenager compared to father's laid-back peaceful atmosphere."

"Wily?" Rock thought, knowing that there's something very wrong here. "Dad and Wily used to be friends!"

Even Roll, who has blond hair and green eyes, wearing a simple red-and-white dress and white dress shoes with black socks, doesn't like the place either. Who knew Wily isn't such a good housekeeper? _Shame on him._ She smacked Elecman a few times, trying to brake free from his grasp.

"Ow! Yikes!" Elecman shouted, "Are you trying to be like Rave now, Rolly my dear?"

"We're lucky that Rave just enrolled to the Maverick Hunter Base! Just wait till he gets here!" Roll shouted, "And you're going to be sorry you captured us!"

"You and your brother will be working for us by the time he gets here," Bombman spoke, "Too bad for him."

"I'd rather clean your dirty, disgusting rooms than be working with you!"

"Can you at least take it easy on them?" Iceman spoke with a concerned tone, "Hurting Rock and Roll while waiting for Rave to arrive isn't going to solve everything, soldier."

"At least Iceman's being honest with them," Rock spoke to his sister. _"He's the least Maverick of the bunch!"_

"That's good at least," Roll replied.

They eventually see Wily himself, wearing a white lab coat, a simple white shirt and tie, blue pants and brown shoes, he has crazy gray hair similiar to Albert Einstein's and has blue eyes, but looks slightly blood-shot.

"Wily, how could you?!" Rock shouted.

"Ah, Rock my boy," Wily started with a German accent, "What you and your sister about to see is going to be part of our idea of a new world."

"New world?!" Rock shouted again, "The world's fine the way it is!"

"What are you trying to do?!" Roll added, "Take over it?!"

"That's the idea all along," Wily replied, "Once we get Dr. Light and your brother out of the way, that is. Everyone in the Skull Fortress is part of this."

"Not all of us!" Rock shouted once more at Wily, and he isn't buying the "world domination idea" either. "What drove you to do this?!"

Wily laughed nervously. He'd rather not say about what drove him to the edge, it could be either Dr. Light stealing all of his thunder throughout the years, gone senile or worse, wants to enjoy a Maverick-infested world?

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Rock spoke to his sister. "And he's not giving us a good answer."

"He's losing grip on reality and starting to replace it with a terrible fantasy," Roll replied.

"What do you want us to do with them?" Elecman spoke to Wily.

Wily thought for a bit, then decided on what to do with Rock and Roll, "Reprogram them, to do our bidding."

Both siblings gasped in fear, knowing that Wily is really serious about this, and the fact that the domestic robots being under his control doesn't help either. He sees Gutsman and Cutman entering the Skull Fortress empty handed.

"Well, where is he?" Wily asked.

Gutsman started, "I threw him out the window, trying to shut him up."

"Did you destroy that pesky robot?!" Wily shouted to both Gutsman and Cutman.

"He escaped after the chair broke!" Cutman replied, "I told him it was a stupid idea, letting his strength do all the talking!"

"I didn't know the chair was going to brake into pieces!" Gutsman pleaded. Hearing that made the siblings giggle a little bit, as a sign of hope. Cutman looked at them, and he was about to get the scissors off his head, threatening Rock and Roll with it to quiet down or else. They stopped giggling as they do what he said.

"You should've let me handle Rave and froze him while he blacked out, sirs!" Iceman spoke to Gutsman and Cutman. "It would've gone well instead of just throwing him out the window while restrained to a wooden chair."

"I know it's my fault, but I'm not going to argue with ya," Gutsman reasoned with Iceman, Cutman and Wily, "Rave's probably looking for us and wants his brother and sister back, maybe you should let us counter-attack him before he starts ruining your plans. For starters, I'll be at the construction site."

The other robots agree with Gutsman's idea. Spitting up to different areas, guarding their bases, while waiting for Rave to arrive in each and one of them before heading to the Wily Fortress before the showdown against Dr. Wily.

"Lock them up," Fireman spoke, "And make sure they don't escape from the fortress."

"Of course." Wily replied, taking Rock and Roll to their cell.

"My base is going to knock Chill Penguin's base off its icy foundation." Iceman spoke before teleporting out of the fortress.

"You're going to get Wily ideas." Fireman did the same.

"Yeah, seriously." Bombman replied.

Elecman, Cutman and Gutsman said nothing while teleporting to their bases in different areas. Wily then closed the cell door afterwards, leaving both siblings angry and worried.

_"He's going to rescue us, i know it."_ Rock thought.

In Abel City, all TV programs are interrupted by Dr. Wily, telling everyone about his new ambition. Even Rave is watching it outside of the electronics store.

"Greetings everyone," Wily started, "What you're about to see is the beginning of the new world. It is i, Dr. Albert Wily, your new ruler, will rename "Abel City" to "Wily City", and of course, take over the world! It doesn't end there, I'm going send my robots to get rid of Thomas Light's oldest son, Rave, who might be ruin my plans of my ideal world!"

_"His robots?"_ Rave thought. _"That's a lie! Those robots belong to my father!"_

"I already have two of his younger siblings, locked up in their cell, and they're soon to be reprogrammed!" He started to laugh before he continued his speech.

Rave is still upset, but starts hearing a beeping sound, coming from his left wrist armor, he answered it. "This is Rave."

"Rave! This guy is-!"

"Scoot over, Chill Penguin! I'm taking over your base!"

"What's wrong with you?! You shouldn't act like this!"

"Wily's orders, sir!"

"Wily?! Wharmp-!"

The communication broke up. Rave isn't going to wait any longer. He listened to the rest of Wily's plan and teleported into the arctic tundra, where Iceman is located alongside Chill Penguin, a Maverick Hunter of the 13th Polar Region unit.

He began seeing a couple of comical-looking robots, called the Crazy Razy's, running towards Rave, he shot its lower body using the X-Buster, only to see the upper body (and head) floating upward, punching the blue armored teen on the head. He grabbed the Crazy Razy and threw it at the other Crazy Razy, also losing its legs. Rave shot the second Crazy Razy to proceed.

Along the way, he saw flying penguin robots, known as the Pepe's, have propellers on their beaks, flying towards him. He avoided some of them while a few of them ram into him.

Rave sees a hole on the ground, he jumps into it, landing in a puddle of water with a Gabyoall underneath. He ignored the little titanium robot most of the time, as he sees platforms appearing and disappearing. "Didn't expect this."

He followed the patterns of the Yoku Blocks, but falls back down a couple of times, it didn't help that the little Gabyoall made things troublesome for Rave, wanting to pick it up and throw it out of the way. He tried following the blocks' pattern again before seeing another segment of Yoku Blocks, wishing he had double jump and air-dash, or learn how to wall jump.

2 Yoku Block segments later, he saw a series of Foot Holders flying over a large chasm full of water, they occasionally fire their lasers from time to time. He jumped on one Foot Holder at a time, it didn't take long for the Pepes to reappear, making Rave's life more difficult, shooting them down with the X-Buster, and finally sees what used to be Chill Penguin's base, he jumped on the final Foot Holder and lands to a safe spot next to the base.

He entered the empty base, seeing a Big Eye bouncing around in the entrance. He payed no attention to it until it tried to flatten Rave, he dashed under it in order to get further in the base. He saw a door with a large "Dr W" logo on top. He entered the door, only to see a room full of Octopus Batteries floating forward and backward, and others up and down, and of course, a stray Pepe. "Seriously?" Rave spoke.

He fired several X-Buster shots at whatever Octopus Battery that attempted to attack him before he could get to Iceman's chamber. More Octopus Batteries continue to swarm around the area until Rave clears them out. Finally, he entered the chamber, seeing Iceman tormenting Chill Penguin, turning him into a man-sized penguinsicle.

"Iceman," Rave spoke to him, "What have you done?"

"Taking over Chill Penguin's base, sir!" Iceman replied.

"Do you always talk like this?" Rave doesn't seem to understand Iceman's speech pattern too well, as it confuses him.

"Loud and clear, soldier! What brings you here?"

"I'm here to rescue you from Wily's orders! He's the reason he made you Maverick in the first place!"

"Maverick?! You're the one who's going Maverick, soldier! And besides, what's with that giant scar on your battle armor?"

Rave looked at the X-shaped scar on his chest armor, reminding him the time he had a nasty run-in with a few Blade Joes, while trying to get his younger siblings to Dr. Light's lab. Bad memories with the Blade Joes," He gave the Eskimo robot an honest but short reply. "I almost died from their attacks."

"I'm going to finish what the Blade Joes started, sir! Except you'll be frozen alive like Chill Penguin did!" Iceman began firing several Ice Slashers out of his mouth, attempting to freeze Rave, he only dodged a few, which is painful while doing so. He shot a few X-Buster plasma shots at Iceman, which have little effect on him.

"Surrender peacefully!" Rave shouted.

"No can do, soldier!" Iceman replied, as the battle continues. He began to summon a minor snowstorm, thinking it'll slow Rave down, and it does work, as he began to shiver a little bit, but he isn't going down unless Iceman snaps out of it. "Had enough, sir? Or do you want more?"

Rave attempted to free Chill Penguin from his icy prison with his X-Buster, melting the ice off but Iceman won't let him as he fired another Ice Slasher at him.

The mechanical penguin is only half-free, began to scream for Rave's help, Iceman turns around, only to see Chill Penguin use Shotgun Ice at the Eskimo's face, blinding him.

"Can't see...!" Iceman shouted. "You really did it this time, soldier!"

Chill Penguin eventually frees himself from the rest of the icy prison that Iceman created, checking on Rave to see he's okay, and tries his best to wake him up before Iceman attacks again. Rave finally comes to, seeing the Eskimo bumping into walls with a chunk of ice in his head.

He began to bang his head on the wall several times, breaking the chunk of Shotgun Ice off his head. He saw the two and starts firing Ice Lasers at them.

Rave and Chill Penguin both dodged the lasers, but only to find out they bounced off the walls, the ceiling and the floor, destroying parts of the base. _"Those lasers are tearing the base apart! Get's get out of here!"_

They escaped from the collapsing base, leaving Iceman behind. Rave wished he told him to leave, but he wouldn't listen. Leaving him no choice but to see him getting buried under the base's debris. Once the collapsing stopped, Rave ran back to the ruined base, digging for the antarctic investigation robot.

"X-!" Chill Penguin shouted, "Err, Rave! What are you doing?! Do you realized that guy almost killed us with those crazy Ice Lasers?!"

"I am not leaving him behind!" Rave replied while continuing digging through the rubble, "I have to get him back to my father's laboratory and repair him, making sure he's out of Wily's Maverick trance!"

A hand pulled out of the rubble, hanging on to Rave's wrist, he pulled the arm out of the rubble and knew that it came from Iceman, who is badly damaged from the collapse. Rave smeared the rubble out of the tiny Eskimo's face. The strange thing is, he kept hanging on to Rave's wrist, not letting it go.

The teenage Blue Bomber began feeling something a bit... Weird, like his data is been transferred to Iceman. His parka color changed from light blue to dark blue. He knew that something is wrong. _"Did he just... Copied my X-Buster?"_ Rave thought.

Iceman opened his eyes, letting him go and implied that he wasn't done with the fight yet. His arm turned into a white, buster cannon, pointing at Rave. _"Now I've got your power!"_ He began firing at the teen with ice-filled plasma shots with colors of the aurora borealis.

"Did your dad gave him the _Variable Weapons System_ by any chance?" Chill Penguin spoke.

"I think he did!" Rave replied while dodging Iceman's newly copied X-Buster shots. "I can see why he spend extra time with him!"

"Stand still, soldier!" Iceman shouted.

Rave holds Chill Penguin's arm for a moment. "What are you doing?!" He spoke.

The teen's armor colors change from blue and black to light blue and yellow. "I have to borrow your Shotgun Ice weapon for a second. I have an idea." He saw a power plant in the distance, not too far from the ruined base.

Iceman shot Chill Penguin at a point blank range with the ice-type version of the X-Buster weapon, freezing the penguin's face by accident. "Oops! Sorry about that. I was aiming for the blue soldier!"

_"Oh, not again!"_ Chill Penguin muffled, trying to get the ice off the face. _Iceman sure has a huge grudge against him..._

Rave created a large, penguin made out of ice, using it as a snowboard, ramming Iceman with it. The Shotgun Ice-made penguin is already sliding towards the power plant, he jumped off the penguin and watched Iceman being defenseless, seeing the his last moments of his activation as Wily's servant as he gets closer and closer to the power plant's door, seeing several electrical generators active.

_"I'm sorry, Dr. Wily...!"_ Those where Iceman's last words before he got shocked by the generators, implying that electricity is his weakness. Rave watched the whole thing before the generators stopped working. He entered the power plant, seeing the Eskimo being fried to a crisp, he hold his hand, copying his Ice Slasher weapon. Rave already began to cry, as he didn't want to destroy him, but rather slowing him down to take him back to Dr. Light's laboratory. He picked him up and began to leave the power plant.

He saw Chill Penguin entering the power plant, "Why are you so teary-eyed, X? I mean, Rave."

"I'll be fine," Rave replied, "And so will Iceman." He looked at the penguin, confused, and slightly jealous of Rave's actions, "Thank you for helping me out, Chill Penguin. You did your best trying to stop Iceman."

"You're welcome," the mechanical penguin replied, "I tried to help you out, but he kept freezing me."

"I know. At least he won't be like this forever. Thanks again." He eventually teleported out of the area, leaving Chill Penguin still confused about the whole thing, not sure what he wants to do next, except for finding another base in the arctic, or teleport out of there. The jealously returned, wishing he was like Rave, mostly in combat, rather than compassion.

Back at Dr. Wily's Skull Fortress, the computer showed Iceman's mugshot, putting the words _"INACTIVE"_ on his mugshot as Rave defeated him.

Rock and Roll is watching Wily talking to someone on a walkie-talkie through the door's barred window, overhearing what he's saying.

"I didn't know it was going to happen!" Wily spoke, "He just took out Iceman and he might be going after Fireman next!"

_"His worrying is the cause of his actions,"_ said a mysterious voice from the walkie-talkie, _"It drove him to the edge to get the robots back to Dr. Light's laboratory."_

"He's always a worrywart! Just look at Dr. Light! He worries about his family, too!"

_"I already know that it's his strength, rather than his weakness. Maybe the children have it, too."_

"They already have. They really want to see their brother, really badly. But they won't once Fireman and the others get rid of him!"

_"You can't always rely on everyone else to do your dirty work, Wily. Because he's just going to get through all of them to get his siblings back."_

"He won't! He's a crybaby, like his father!"

_"Sorry to say, X is not a crybaby, he's a strong, young man. His potential is limitless. You can see for yourself as he goes through getting the robots back to his creator."_

"Pfft! Limitless potential?! Ha! He couldn't finish watching a movie without crying!"

_"The tears are a sign of heart and compassion. It is more than just a feature for an advanced android like him."_

"My android can kick Dr. Light's whiny creation out of water once he's completed! Just you wait!"

_"Luck won't last forever, Wily. No offense. If all of your forces have been destroyed by X, I'm going to take over and go after him. And it won't be a pretty sight either."_

"His name is Rave!"

_"The scar doesn't lie, Wily. It fits him better than his real name."_

"I don't care! He's a freaking _super fighting robot!_"

_"You're doing the best you can to take him out before i do. Remember, this is your last chance."_ The mysterious man hanged up, leaving Wily worried that if the reprogrammed robots fail to stop Rave, the man will take over Wily's spot as the leader of world domination.

"Isn't that the guy from the Maverick Hunter Base?" Said Roll. "It sure sounds like him."

"It can't be." Rock replied. "He's the commander of Rave's unit, he can't be supporting the idea of world domination."

"Should we talk to Rave about it when he saves us?"

"I'm afraid so."

_To be continued._  
**_Next: Fireman_**


	2. Blast Furnace

At Dr. Light's laboratory, Dr. Light is repairing Iceman after he got electrocuted by the power plant's electric generator back in the arctic tundra. Rave himself is also going through repairs as well.

"My word, Rave," Light spoke, "Did you really have to do this to Iceman?"

"My X-Buster did little or no effect against him, dad," Rave replied. "Plus he even copied it after i dug him out of the rubble of what used to be Chill Penguin's base. Did you give him the Variable Weapons System, by any chance?"

"I don't remember giving him the Variable Weapons System," Light replied, "Maybe Wily might've gave him that after he took him and the other robots."

"What if the others have it?"

"I have no idea."

"Earlier, Chill Penguin was attacked by Iceman. I'm fearing that they're might be going after the other Maverick Hunters next just to test my strength. I'm going after Fireman next, since he might be weak against to ice."

"How come you can't teleport to Dr. Wily's Skull Fortress, right away?"

"He said if i teleported to his fortress without defeating the Robot Masters first, he'll reprogram Rock and Roll. I had to do what he said."

Dr. Light deeply understands what his son's going through. "I see. But he has gone too far."

"I know. I'm still curious about why he's acting like this. I'll know once i meet him, or provide hints to his unacceptable behavior."

"If you do go out and find Fireman, i must modify your armor first, making it heat-proof."

"Okay, father. I'm glad you said that." Rave smiled, knowing that he's going to need those modfications before going after Fireman, otherwise, he can't take the heat, where ever he is now.

Meanwhile at the Skull Fortress, Dr. Wily is upset yet again, but this time, it's not about Rave going after the next Robot Master, it's about whatever he's working on, is gone.

Rock and Roll listened to him scream in fustration, began to start giggling, but are curious about why is he screaming.

"He's gone!" Wily screamed.

"Who's gone?" Rock asked the mad doctor himself.

"My newest creation! I wanted him to knock your brother off his feet when he's finished but i can't find him!" Wily replied.

Rock has an idea, and begins to share it with his sister by whispering. It's a huge risk they have to take, but she agrees with the idea. "If you let us out of the cell, we'll find him for you."

Wily disagrees about what Rock said, but it's for his missing android, he decided to open the cell door and let Rock and Roll look for him.

"Are you sure this is going to work, Rock?" Roll asked.

"I'm sure of it, sis." Rock replied.

By the time Wily continues searching for his android, the younger Light siblings aren't heard or seen again. He continues focusing that what matters more than to check up on the duo.

Somewhere away from Wily's sight, Rock and Roll saw the same aircraft the robots piloted earlier in the hangar, both of them entered the aircraft. Rock's on the pilot seat while Roll's on the passenger seat.

Rock started up the engine, attempting to escape from Dr. Wily while he's busy finding the missing android he's working on. The aircraft eventually left the Skull Fortress and into the desert plains.

"Do you know where we going?" Roll asked while watching her brother pilot the aircraft.

"We're flying back to Abel City Roll," Rock replied, "And warn our dad about Rave's commander working with Wily."

"How long we're going to get there?"

"Maybe not too long. I've watched where we going after they took us captive, and i hope i can remember the way home."

"I hope so."

While the aircraft flies off to the horizon, a man wearing red armor and a black bodysuit is seen on the ground, with long, blond hair with a red karate ribbon tied to it, watching the brother and sister duo fly out of the desert plain and hopefully, to Abel City.

Finding Fireman will not be an easy task since he's located in a boiler room of a waste management facility. Rave will have to take precautions by not getting burned if he wants to bring the flame of justice to Dr. Light's laboratory in one piece.

He began to see some Killer Bullets flying at him, but quickly ducked. "Whoa!" He shouted. "They looked like Bullet Bills. Well, almost like them." Once he opened the door to the main area, he sees a chasm full of lava, gulping.

He has to go around the room, avoiding the lava pit at all costs. He saw a few Screw Bombers on the floor, firing small laser beams in every direction after he stepped on one of them as he got hit by a few laser beams. Ouch.

He crawled on the floor to avoid being shot by the tiny turret robots. He went upstairs to the second floor of the building, seeing a geyser made out of fire spewing out of a small cannon. He switched to his Ice Slasher weapon, turning the flaming geysers into ice walls, and using them as platforms to get to the next floor.

Several Changkeys flew out of the lava pit and going after Rave, he turned around as he feels to get warm and sees the floating fireballs with eyes, he freezed them with the Ice Slasher and continued proceeding to the boiler room. He turned the Ice Slasher weapon off to save ammo and switches back to his default plasma weapon of his X-Buster.

Rave's least favorite robots, the Gabyoall, has returned to do nothing but crawl back and forth on the floor and waiting for the Blue Bomber to get tripped on them. He picked one up, but it was heavy. He gently put it down and attempted to walk over them, but eventually tripped on one. "Ow!"

He got back up and luckily he didn't see anymore of them, which is a relief. He sees a ladder and climbs upward, seeing a sign that says "boiler room" with a "Dr. W" emblem on the door, meaning that Fireman won't be far. Once he climbed into the floor, he opened the door to the boiler room, looking for the torch-headded robot.

"Where is he?" Said Rave. Something doesn't feel quite right, the boiler room is empty, no other little robots going after him. "Is this a joke?"

All of a sudden, a blast of fire came out of nowhere, firing behind of Rave, he quickly jumped out of the way. The blast of fire came from none other than Fireman himself.

"My flames of justice will rid of all the evil that is you!" Fireman shouted.

"The boiler room is not a good idea for your base of operations!" Rave shouted to Fireman, saying that the boiler room is unsafe for a fire-type Robot Master like him. "Stand down and we can get out of this room together!"

"Thanks but no thanks, Rave," Fireman replied, "I like it here."

"Don't you know that if your attacks touch these boilers? They'll explode with both of us in it!" Fireman ignored Rave's pleas, leaving him no choice but to fight him in order to get him out of the boiler room, which is not a good place for Fireman to reside in. "Please, get out of the room. It's not safe. We'll fight on the first floor instead."

Fireman accepts, as crazy as it sounds for him. In fact, he'd rather let the boiler room explode with Rave in it. They jumped down to the first floor and began their fight, down here away from the supposedly unsafe room.

The lava pit is still making Rave uneasy. He went ahead and switched back to the Ice Slasher weapon. Fireman dodged after Rave shot an Ice Slasher arrow from his buster, unleashed a wave of Fire Storm shots at him, luckily, Rave missed the shots.

The torch-headed robot kicked Rave in the chest. He knew that Fireman wasn't playing around, approaching him. He quickly got back up and fired an Ice Slasher arrow at Fireman's lower chest, giving him a nasty cust on his waist, to add salt to the wound, it has some melted ice in it.

"Not a smart move, boy," Fireman spoke, "Not a smart move at all!" He punched Rave with his fire cannon, and start beating him up with them. He knew that he is in a world of hurt unless he tries to escape from the fiery robot's series of punches.

"Shoryuken!"

That came out of nowhere, Fireman using a fiery uppercut against Rave, thinking that he was playing a lot of Street Fighter to learn that move, which belongs to Ken Masters.

Rave is still in a world of hurt, and he tried to get up, but couldn't. He wouldn't mind having an E-Tank right now, during a desprate time like this.

"That's for slicing my stomach with those arrows!" Fireman shouted. "Now you will bow down to the flames of justice!"

He tried to get off the floor, but he was too weak, implying that Fireman's Shoryuken left him some nasty energy drainage. He looked at his lifebar on his X-Buster, his energy's down to 20 percent. "Snap! How the heck am i going to survive this?!" He thought.

Fireman pointed his buster cannon at Rave, ready to use his Fire Storm weapon one more time, his victory is drawing near for the fiery Robot Master, and he can sure taste it right now...

Several buster shots came out of nowhere, attacking Fireman before he could finish what he started, giving Rave some time to escape, but couldn't help but wonder where the buster shots came from. "Am i being rescued?" He thought.

The buster shots came from the myserious red android, standing on the 3rd floor of the building. He jumped down to the first floor, holding an E-Tank for Rave.

"Blues...?" Rave spoke at the red robot, athough slightly disoriented, thinking he's someone else he's once familiar with. "B-Blues?"

The red robot blinked his eyes after hearing what Rave said, "Take this." He gaves him the E-Tank for him to recharge his energy.

Rave took the E-Tank, drinks it, his energy grows back to 100%, feeling refreshed. "Thank you. But... Who are you?"

"None of that matters now, look!" The red robot pointed at Fireman who is about to attack Rave again. He quickly fired several Ice Slashers at him, slowing the hot-headed flame of justice down.

"Stop firing those Ice Slashers at me!" Fireman screamed.

"Not until you surrender, Fireman!" Rave shouted at the Robot Master, attempting to use the Shoryuken uppercut again but the red robot attacked him with his buster, trying to slow him down, preventing him to harm Rave any further.

"Sorry to do this, Fireman," Rave spoke, "but you left me no choice!" He fired one last Ice Slasher arrow at Fireman's torch, extinguishing the flames. Afterwards, the Robot Master fainted.

Rave looked at the mysterious robot, "Thank you," thanking him for saving his life at a near-death experience. If it weren't for him, he'd be burned alive by Fire Man's Fire Storm, or worse, being thrown into the lava pit. He's still wondering if his rescuer is a robot he once knew, but he doesn't sure look like him. "Do you have a name?"

"You can call me Zero." The red robot introduced to himself. "Earlier, you called me Blues for some reason. Why is that?"

Rave looked at his feet. "I... I thought you were him. He wore red armor, too. But that was a long time ago. I really don't know what happened to him when he disappeared."

He looked back up on Zero's face.

"I'm sorry about your loss." Zero felt sympathetic to Rave, thinking that Blues might've been dead during his disappearence. But he really isn't.

"I hope he's not destroyed," Rave replied. "Last time i saw him, he had a glitch in his system. He didn't understand why he acted like this. I thought he was going, you know, _Maverick._" He picked up Fireman, ready to returm back to Dr. Light's laboratory. "I have to go home and get Fireman and myself repaired."

"Of course. But i didn't get your name."

"I'm Rave Thomas Light." He introduced himself to Zero, "But some people call me "X", because of my scar on my chest."

"Ouch. Where did you get that scar?"

"Blade Joes. They came out of nowhere while i was taking my little brother and sister home. Boy, they did a number on me, big time. I'll see you later, Zero. I have to get home."

"All right, then. We'll meet again. See you later."

Rave teleported from the waste management facility with Fireman with him. Good thing he made Fireman fight on the first floor rather than the boiler room, otherwise, the facility would've been destroyed with them along with it. Zero hopes that he can meet Rave again, in case if he gets into danger with a Robot Master again.

Back at Dr. Wily's Skull Fortress, he is excausted after looking for his unfinished creation. He is sitting on his chair, taking a breather. He hasn't heard from Rock and Roll for a long time during the search. When he sees the computer screen with the current Robot Masters he repgrogrammed from Dr. Light's lab, Fireman's mugshot gets the _"INACTIVE"_ tag. He started to scream in fustration. "If Rave doesn't get destroyed soon, that guy's going to take over my spot as the leader of the new world!"

"I am not worried about that," Said a teenage robot wearing black armor with golden decorations, has red eyes and purple markings on his face. "Maybe you outta enroll yourself into a retirement home before whoever you're talking to takes your place."

"Your remarks are certainly not making the situation any better, Bass!" Wily replied. "You don't understand what that man's really capable of!"

Bass blew out a raspberry, not caring about how Wily feels after Rave and Zero took out Fireman. "Even if he took your spot, I'm not going to join him, either. In fact, I'd rather take out Rave myself, before he attacks another one of your junkbots."

"Ugh, please do," Wily replied coldly, "He only took out 2 of the robots and there's only 4 of them left! By the way, have you ever heard from those pipsqueak little siblings of Rave?"

"Not for awhile, why?"

"They might've got exausted from looking for my newest android and possibly fallen asleep."

"You outta stop kidding yourself, old man, I checked the hangar and the Skull Copter is gone."

_"WHAT?!"_ Wily yelped.

"I think they've flew out of here with it." Bass finished.

To see if Bass is right about Rock and Roll escaping from the Skull Fortress, he entered the hanger and he is right, the Skull Copter is gone. Bass turns his volume down because he doesn't want to hear his creator screaming once more. The elderly man already knew that it as a bad idea to let Rock and Roll out of their cell to look for his missing robot, only to escape afterwards.

_"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ His scream got so loud, the windows began to shatter throughout the fortess. After the massive scream his over, Bass turned his volume back up.

"Now it's your turn to replace the windows, old man."

Nighttime has rolled around in the Light residence. Rave, Dr. Light and Iceman, fully repaired, are at the dining room table, having supper while Fireman is in repairs. Light sees Rave barely touching his food, as his lost in his thoughts after he encountered the unknown man-in-red, Zero. "Rave, aren't you hungry?" Light spoke.

"I am," Rave replied, "It's just that, i encountered a red robot named Zero during the fight with Fireman. I thought he was Blues at first glance, but he has long blonde hair, and doesn't look like him, but he saved my life."

Light didn't know how to think about that. "Are you sure he didn't do anything harmful to you?"

"I'm sure of it. He gave me an E-Tank after Fireman used the Shoryuken uppercut on me, not to mention he has beaten me to a pulp before that. At least he got there on time before he got the chance to finish me off."

"Thanks to him and his kind actions, I'm glad you brought Fireman back in one piece." Light now understands what Rave's talking about, knowing that Zero saved his son's life before Fireman did the unthinkable. Even the E-Tank helped too. It is short lived as he sighed because Rock and Roll are still at Wily's fortress, hoping to be rescued after all of the reprogrammed Robot Masters are defeated.

Iceman began to hear something came into the lab's hangar while eating. "Dr. Light, do you built anything that flies?"

"No," Light replied, "Why?"

"Something just flew into the hangar. I heard it."

Rave and his father got off the chairs to check the laboratory's hangar. Upon their arrival, they see a Skull Copter just landed into the landing pad. As the aircraft's doors began to open, a duo came out of Skull Copter are Rave's younger siblings, Rock and Roll!

"Rock! Roll!" Rave called their names, running towards them, both he and Light gave the brother and sister duo a hug. There wasn't a dry eye in sight, since all four of them have tears in their eyes, crying for joy.

"How did you escape?" Rave spoke.

"We tricked Wily by unlocking our cell door to look for his missing robot," Roll started, "Rock came up with that idea while he was looking for it."

"We sure showed him! We had trouble going back to Abel City because we kept going in the wrong direction.," Rock added. "That's why it took so long to get home."

"At least the both of you are safe from Wily," Light added, "Rave already retrived Iceman and Fireman during the day. Iceman just got done repaired and Fireman will be back to his old self soon."

The family went back to the dining room table, finishing their supper. Rock and Roll got their plates full of pasta and sit down with their father and their older brother, for the first time since Wily and the Robot Masters captured them.

Iceman sneaks out of the dining room table, getting a box of ice cream in order to skip supper, the pasta he ate didn't agree with him, it might've been too spicy for him to eat.

He went in the laboratory and checked on Fireman.

Rock had a worried look on his face. Back at the Skull Fortress, he and Roll heard Dr. Wily talking to Rave's commander on a walkie-talkie, thinking it's him, judging by the voice.

"Rave, i have to tell you something."

"Sure." Rave spoke.

He doesn't know how to put it lightly, but he had no other choice but to tell the truth. "I think Wily's working with the guy from the Maverick Hunter base," He started, "The commander of the 17th unit?"

Rave's eyes blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Me and Roll heard his voice on the walkie-talkie," Rock continued, "I think he's going to take Dr. Wily's place when you take out all the robots he stole. You've got to go the base and talk to him, to see if he's really behind this or not."

Hearing that made Rave's stomach plummet to the ground, but he agreed with his younger brother. "I'll see what i can do, because i just met him few days ago."

While listening to Rave and Rock talking, Iceman holds Fireman's hand, as data began to transfer to him.

"Please do. We're not only dealing with Dr. Wily, but we might dealing with that guy, too. I think his name was, Victor Signus or something like that?" Roll added.

"That would be Viktor Sigma, Roll." Rave tells his siblings the man's name. "I kept getting strange vibes from him ever since i enrolled into the Maverick Hunter Base, and i thought that was just mechanical butterflies flying around in my stomach due to excitement."

"What are we going to do when he takes over Dr. Wily's spot?" Roll asked Dr. Light.

"We'll go the laboratory's underground shelter if he ever plans to attack here," Light replied, "We'll move all of our future projects down here if things get bad to worse. We'll be hoping for the whole thing to pass over, my dear."

_But what is Iceman doing after hearing about the grim outcome after Rave stopping Dr. Wily's plans? He writes a note and places it on his capsule, he sits down alongside Fireman and begins to eat some ice cream. Is he scared about it, too? Or maybe is it something else, like Wily and the other reprogrammed robots?_

_To be continued_  
**_Next: Bombman_**


	3. A Deadly Game of Bomberman

_Authoress' note:_

_The next part contains references of a well-known maze game called **Bomberman, **as well as expanding Bombman's move set a little with Power-Ups from the same game. Plus Iceman's going to take over for Rave until the next part, since he's my favorite robot master and he's the reason why i love the Mega Man series in the first place. If you guys like a little Bomberman tribute in a Mega Man story, here it is. Bomberman (references only) belongs to Hudson Soft while Mega Man belongs to Capcom. Enjoy!_

* * *

The next morning, Iceman began to sneak out of Dr. Light's laboratory before anyone else wakes up at this hour. He opened the lab's back door with an E-Tank in hand. There was something he has to do, and it involves dealing with one of the four reprogrammed Robot Masters that Dr. Wily stole from Dr. Light yesterday.

Sure, he had to deal with Rave and Chill Penguin the previous day while under Dr. Wily's orders. Now free from the mad scientist's reprogramming, he had no time to waste by teleporting out of the area and into Bombman's location.

His location is an unusual one, giant mechanical lollypop-like structures are seen everywhere in this area, as well as the occasional Beak turret robots, along with the Screw Bombers and the exploding Bombombs, coming out of pits. The Eskimo knows that it's going to be a blast when he meets Bombman in person.

He ran away from the Beaks' plasma projectiles and staying away from the Bombombs' explosions, as well as freezing them with his Ice Slasher weapon. He encountered several Killer Bullets along the way, sliding underneath them. A stray Kamadoma hop towards Iceman but kicked it out of his way.

He climbed on a ladder, seeing several Mambus firing projectiles at Iceman as they merged from their shells, he freezed a few of them but took several hits from their shots.

Several Gabyoalls are seen on the ground, crawling back and forth like they usually do. Iceman tried his best not to trip on any of them like Rave did while trying to free him and Fireman from Wily's grasp. He almost avoided them all, but sadly, he too has tripped on the ground, but luckily got back up and kept going.

Iceman sees a green robot with a red eye holding a shield, guarding Bombman's chamber. It attacked Iceman by using its buster, dodging the shots, attacking the Sniper Joe while using its shield is a waste of time unless it attacks him again. He waited for an opening as it attempts to attack the Eskimo again, this time, he froze the Sniper Joe and destroying it afterwards with a kick. As soon as he opened the gates to Bombman's chambers, what he saw next is a giant maze full of Octopus Batteries, gray walls and a green floor.

"Am i sure this is the right robot I'm about to fight?" Iceman spoke to himself, "It looks something came out of _Bomberman_!"

It was pretty unexpected for him. He attempted to destroy all the Octopus Batteries with the Ice Slasher weapon, one at a time since the maze is very confusing and takes a while to figure it out. As all of the Octopus Batteries are destroyed, a door with the "Dr. W" logo appears. He quickly entered it, only to find out it's another maze. This time, Bombman is in it.

"Iceman?!" The mohawk-haired robot is surprised to see Iceman going after him instead of Rave. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm continuing what Rave started yesterday, sir!" Iceman replied, "I am getting you back to Dr. Light's Laboratory!"

"I knew there was something funny about that robot, always getting in our way to create the new world like Wily promised, and now you're here to mess it up!"

"Hope you don't mind being a Popsicle, Bombsy!"

Bombman began to place a bomb on the floor, Iceman jumped over it as it exploded in a cross-shaped pattern.

"Hey! No jumping!" Bombman shouted.

"This isn't _Bomberman_, you mohawk moron!" Iceman shouted back, firing several Ice Slasher shots at him, which has little effect on Bombman.

"Hey! What are you trying to do, freeze me?!" He shouted at the Eskimo robot, sneezed afterwards.

"That's what i was trying to do because you didn't listen to me, soldier!"

Bombman ran off, making Iceman searching him in the unusual maze. He sees nothing but gray walls and a dead end. For a moment, he heard a sizzling sound, he turned around, seeing 3 bombs next to him, getting ready to explode. "Freezing circuits!" He shouted. He jumped as the trio of bombs exploded, but the jump wasn't very pleasant as he jumped into the rough green pavement.

The mohawk-haired robot wasn't letting Iceman off the hook, if he was still reprogrammed by Dr. Wily, he won't interfiere with him. But it's not the case this time. Iceman stood up, looking at Bombman attempting to kick a bomb at him. Instead, Iceman kicked the bomb at the demolition robot, as it colided into him, it exploded into his face.

"Ha! That was fun!" Iceman spoke, his parka color turned red with a yellow scarf, meaning that he's switching weapons, "But let's see if you like a taste of my Frost Torch!" Iceman shoots out a blue blaze of fire at his opponent, Bombman then gets burned by the Frost Torch, Iceman's version of the Fire Storm weapon. And just like the actual weapon, it works against him.

"Rotten little freak!" Bombman throw his Hyper Bomb at Iceman, but he missed as he dodged it and its explosion. He sneaks behind Bombman and fires another Frost Torch at him, and then slaps his head around backwards, causing his data to transfer to the tiny but feisty Eskimo.

Bombman fixes his head back to its original position, and starts having second thoughts about Dr. Wily giving Iceman having the Variable Weapons System, it'll have to wait. He planted bombs around the part of the maze where Iceman is at, holding a remote control. By the time Iceman tries to find him, Bombman presses the button the remote, several bombs began to explode right away.

Snickering, thinking that Iceman has blown to bits thanks to the Remote Bomb. He saw what appears to be Iceman's parka jacket, fried from the explosions. "That take cares of that little rascal. Fireman would've been so proud." As soon as Bombman turned around, a sapphire colored bomb came out of nowhere, freezing him after it collided into the mohawk-haired robot. He began to shiver pretty badly, let alone sneezing.

Iceman merged from the flames without his parka jacket, only wearing a black jumpsuit, gloves and snow boots, and a white scarf around his neck (due to switching weaponry) "You really did it this time, Bombsy!" He spoke, while drinking an E-Tank, holding another sapphire-colored bomb, placing it down on the ground, "It's my turn to play _Bomberman_, and this time, you're playing by my rules, soldier!" He kicked the bomb at Bombman, freezing him again.

Bombman wished that he was fighting Rave instead of Iceman, making things easier for him, but Rave will still defeat him anyway, with or without the Fire Storm weapon gained from Fireman. He threw another Hyper Bomb at him, but he planted a chip in Bombman's ear, making the latter slow down. "Oh no! The _Speed Down_ Power-up!" Bombman shouted while trying to run away from him.

Iceman planted 4 bombs surrounding Bombman, and then switches back to the Frost Torch weapon, watching all 4 of the sapphire bombs blowing up, turning Bombman into a man-sized popsicle, he then uses the Frost Torch weapon, making Bombman himself explode into pieces.

Parts of him are scattered all over the room, and Iceman has to go all over the maze and gather what's left of the pudgy demolition robot before heading back to Dr. Light's laboratory. "The next robot's all yours, Rave." Iceman spoke.

In Abel City, Rave is heading to the Maverick Hunter Base, wearing casual wear instead of his armor: a pastel blue shirt with a denim blue jacket overneath, black pants, and blue combat boots, entering the building to look for Viktor Sigma, the commander of the 17th unit, as well as talking to him about Dr. Wily and his obsession with world domination. He saw the man, who is bald and taller than Rave, has solid blue eyes and a red gem on his forehead, wearing a green armor with a black bodysuit underneath and brown boots. He carefully approached the man without any sudden movement. Rave clears his throat, getting Sigma's attention. He turned around as he sees the smaller brown-haired android, wanting to speak with him.

"You're not in uniform, Rave," Sigma spoke, "What brings you here?"

Rave crossed his arms, looking at the tall android, "I need to talk to you about Dr. Wily." He started.

The tall android rolls his eyes, trying to avoid talking about the mad scientist, but Rave really wanted to discuss about him, because it may either help him and his family, or make everything worse. He eventually agrees.

"Have you ever... Spoke to him or anything?"

"No," Sigma replied, "I was planning on capturing him and taking the man into custody, but you prefer to do it yourself, Rave."

"I wanted to so he wouldn't get hurt. Not to mention he let Iceman attack one of your men, taking over and destroying his base."

"I see. Chill Penguin has eventually recovered from the attacks from the robot, and he's coming along really well. I told the others not to interfere unless they ask either one of us first."

Rave would also like to have someone helping him getting the reprogrammed robots back to Dr. Light's lab after battling each and every one of them without ending up being a victim of their escapades.

Iceman entered the base, with two weapons he wanted to give to Rave before retriving and battling another Robot Master when he gets done speaking with Sigma. "I got Bombman back, but he's going to be out cold for awhile." He spoke, giving Rave a handshake, transferring the two weapons from one another. Sigma stared at both of them suspiciously.

"What?" Rave talked, "You got Bombman returned by yourself? Why didn't you ask me, or father?"

"I left a note in case of you guys get worried about me," Iceman replied, "And you should've seen the look on Bombman's face when i gave him the Speed Down chip!"

"Speed Down chip?"

"It was like a game of _Bomberman_, sir! Luckily i watched you fight back when i was in Wily's control, and it sure helped me a lot in the get-go! I have given you the OK to take on the next Robot Master with those 2 weapons i gave you, hopefully they'll help you out when things get rough."

Iceman finished. He then turns his attention to Sigma, "He's huge!" he thought, then salutes with respect, despite never meeting him before. "Sir." He walked out of the base, heading back to Dr. Light's laboratory.

Sigma made that look again, he's on to Rave for some reason, while not showing it. He also walked away, not wanting to continue the discussion

about Dr. Wily, making him confused and baffled. He wanted to say something else, since Sigma has other things to do than to talk with the Maverick Hunter. Rave shrugged and decided to leave the base, empty handed. He went to his office, hearing what appears to be Dr. Wily shouting from the walkie-talkie. He decided not to talk to him until the human scientist calms down.

At the Skull Fortress, Bombman now has the "INACTIVE" tag thanks to Iceman's actions. Gutsman tries his best to calm Wily down from the computer, but the former refuses to do so.

"I will not calm down!" Wily shouted, "Look what that blue pipsqueak did to my robot!"

"I know," Gutsman started, "Maybe that Bomberman thing wasn't such a good idea."

"I thought it would help him to get rid of that pest, Rave!"

"There's something else i also wanted to tell you, Rave wasn't involved with Bombman at the time, it was Iceman. He started to follow his footsteps after he retrieved him yesterday. He even used the Varible Weapons System against him, copying his weapon after using the Remote Bomb."

Wily slammed his bare hands on the table in fustration, it didn't help that doing so made his hands sore.

"That's my job." Gutsman saw Wily's actions. "I'll come back once i flatten either one of the Blue Dweebs." He cuts off the communication to do his duties outside of an underground mine. Bass wasn't in the mood for talking to him, either, yet he walks out of the fortress without looking at his creator once. "At least the windows didn't break this time."

"If these robots don't get rid of Rave soon, I'm going to be replaced with a much more advanced android!" Wily shouted, "What should i do? Should i make Robot Masters from scratch?" The latter then sparked Wily the idea of creating his own line of robots, rather than taking someone else's and reprogramming him to do his dirty work. The thing is, they won't reach the completion date if the 3 remaining robots fail to stop Rave in time. In the end, there's always another chance for the mad scientist himself, even after the mysterious man took over his spot. He wouldn't let him control his life when the time comes. He'll have to do it on his own if he wants to continue to take over the world. Thinking about it gave him a little bit of relief, and getting ahold of himself. To pass time, he begins building them right away, one Robot Master at a time.

There are two more robots that Wily forgot to activate after being reprogrammed, one is an oil-based Robot Master and the other resembles a traditional alarm clock, standing still with their eyes closed, waiting to be activated unless they wanted to be covered in cobwebs and dust forever. They'll have to wait until Wily comes around to do something with them.

Another robot free from Dr. Wily's orders mean another victory for the Light family, but they're not out of the woods yet since Gutsman, Cutman and Elecman are the only ones remaining at this time. Iceman tells Rock and Roll the story about defeating Bombman, they were amazed on how a simple scouting robot possibly became another super fighting robot alongside their older brother. It was the Variable Weapons System that helped him out along the way, saying that he'll do it again anytime.

"So you're fighting alongside us, now?" Rock started.

"Can't do it all the time, Rock," Iceman replied, "Especially with Elecman's around, he'll probably wipe me out before i can attack him! So he's not on my list for a very good reason. For now, I'll be sticking to scouting in Antarctica unless you guys need my help again."

"Do you use any E-Tanks if you're low on power, Iceman?" Roll joined in.

"Of course. If i didn't take one with me, i would've been blown to pieces after he used that Remote Bomb. He even fried my parka jacket to nothing, which is why I'm not wearing it at this hour."

"You actually look better without it." Rock spoke.

"I do?" Iceman replied to Rock. "As much as you like to see me this way, i prefer wearing the jacket, sir." He looked plain without his parka, so he disagrees with Rock.

"Do you think Rave is okay with you fighting from time to time?' Roll asked.

"He was a bit skeptical about it, since he was busy talking to the tall bald guy in the Hunter Base, so he might be okay with it." Iceman started again.

"Is he talking to Sigma?" Rock asked.

"I think so," He replied to Rock, "He looked kind of worried about him, but i think that man gave us a weird look before i left the base, it creeps me out."

"We're already on to Sigma since yesterday, he might be working with Dr. Wily, or the other way around." Roll spoke, "We're afraid what he'll do once Rave stops all of Wily's forces. If he attacks the laboratory, we may have to live in the underground lab for the rest of our lives." She ended with a concerned tone.

"Not forever." Rock spoke.

"What do you mean by that?" Iceman asked.

"I want to help out Rave if it does happen," Rock replied as he stood up from the chair.

Hearing what Rock said made both Roll's and Iceman's eyebrows raised, as well as a shocked expression. Light already has one of the three siblings as a super fighting robot, and that's their older brother Rave. As the middle child, Rock wants to be one next.

"Are you nuts, soldier?" Iceman spoke, "What Sigma may bring may be too strong for you! You fighting the reprogrammed robots? Maybe, but i think you might be crossing the line of being a super fighting robot once Wily steps down!"

"Whatever he brings may be too strong for Rave, also!" Rock replied back, "One Blue Bomber isn't enough, Iceman! Rave might need my help, one way or another!"

"I don't think it's a good idea, Rock," Even his younger sister disagrees, "You have no idea what Sigma might be capable of! He's a S-class hunter!"

"It's not going to be an easy thing to go through," Fireman joined in, "Fighting against a possible super-powered android and his forces are going to take a huge toll on you mentally and physically."

"See?" Iceman spoke, "Even Fireman doesn't want you to fight like this. Dr. Light may not like it, either."

Rock thought about it a little bit, thinking it'll be too intense for him. Heck, it'll even affect Rave too if he sees his little brother becoming another Blue Bomber, creating a lot more stress for the Light family than they were now. Rock left the repair bay to give him some time to think it over before he can finalize it.

"Being captured by Dr. Wily is one thing, but wanting to fight alongside with your brother when Sigma becomes king is another." Said Roll.

"I don't want Sigma to be a king, either." Iceman added, "Same goes with Dr. Wily."

"What if he talks to Dr. Light about this? Or even wants him to turn into a combat robot?" Roll asked.

"For the last part, I'll try to stop him, and tell Dr. Light that turning his own son into another combat robot is going to be a fatal mistake."

"I hope Rave is doing the right thing when all this is over," Fireman added, "He'll have to get the rest of the robots back to the lab quickly."

_To be continued._  
**_Next: Gutsman_**


	4. Raw Strength

The brawny Gutsman's location takes place in a construction site outside of an underground mine. All the loud noises coming from machinery made a mechanical armadillo close the mines until Gutsman leaves. Several Bunby Heli robots fly around the area, looking out for anything (or anyone) suspicious, as well as several Picket Men walking around, doing construction work.

Rave was already on his way to rescue the large, muscular robot from Wily's control, shooting a single Bunby Heli out of the sky because it tried to attack him. A trio of Picket Men even tried to stop him, throwing their pickaxes at him, but the outcome for them is anything but pleasant. One Picket Man attacked Rave with its pickaxe, trying to stab him with it, he grabbed the handle, taking the pickaxe from its hands and swings it, knocking it out of its feet.

He began to hear the loud, clanking sounds of lifts going back and forth over a large gap, with some damaged chains that'll make anyone drop to their doom. "Yikes, i hope i can make it on the other side..." Rave thought. he jumped on the lift, once it reaches the damaged chains, he jumped again to avoid falling into the pit.

As he jumped to a safe spot, he saw a hostile Metool, trying to fire 3 lasers at Rave, knowing that this Metool isn't as nice as the one in Dr. Light's lab. He didn't want to destroy it, but rather to avoid taking it out with his X-Buster. He's still on the path to rescue the brawny robot, until...

"You're not going anywhere, Rave!"

The voice came from Bass, as he jumped off a cliff, landed on the ground. Rave was really not in the mood for going against the black-armored robot as he's in a hurry, but Bass wasn't going to let him escape.

"Bass, go home!" Rave shouted, "I don't want to fight you! I'm just here to rescue Gutsman, nothing more!"

"That big, dumb rectangle-jawed robot?" Bass replied, "Forget it! He's not worth rescuing! Besides, I'd rather punch you in the eye, fry you to bits, or maybe even give you another scar that goes with the one on your chest!"

"You're not even a legitimate domestic robot! You're nothing more than a Maverick and an Irregular compared to your father's reprogramming habits!"

Calling Bass a "Maverick" or an "Irregular" made him very angry, he began to punch Rave by the cheek as the fight already started, knocking the Blue Bomber on the ground.

Rave got up and shoots Bass with his X-Buster, but the latter dodged them by jumping. He fired his own purple plasma shots from his Bass Buster, only a few of them harmed Rave since he dodged several of them. Bass then kicked the Blue Bomber in the chest several times.

Rave switched to the Fire Storm weapon gained from Fireman, turning his armor colors from dark blue and black to red and yellow, attempting to slow down Bass by using the said weapon, nearly frying him to a crisp.

Bass screamed in pain, after Rave used the weapon against him, he's going to make sure that he'll return and get back at him. It won't be pretty the next time Rave sees the black-armored teen.

"Sorry about that," Rave apologized, "But that's what you get for attacking me!" He "escaped" from Bass while in his burnt status and continues his search for Gutsman.

3 Bunby Heli's try to dive bomb into Rave, but didn't as he dashed overneath them, then sees the occasional Metool and a Picket Man. As well as a Big Eye that bounces around back and forth, he shot it down before it landed on him. But just when Rave sees the back entrance to the underground mines, a still-burnt Bass shoves the Blue Bomber off the cliff.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"He who hesitates is lost!" Bass shouted while watching his foe fall all the way to the ground, chuckling.

Rave screamed throughout the fall, crashing into the mine's back entrance, and began to uncontrollably roll into the rocky floor once he landed, and coliding to the mechanical armadillo who was speaking with a walkie-talkie, it fell out of his hand afterward, falling into a puddle of water and short circuits. The rolling eventually stopped as they hit a wall, which is slightly painful for both of them. The armadillo groaned, he opened his eyes and sees Rave behind him, out-cold from the fall and the rollout.

Moments after the rollout and outside of Gutsman's base, "I am not ready to fight him yet," the armadillo spoke, pushing a wheel barrel with Rave in it. He knocked on the door (with the trademark "Dr. W" logo) and waits for Gutsman to answer it.

The door opens up, revealing to the buff and burly robot himself, he looks down at the armadillo holding the wheel barrel with Rave in it, "It's about time you did something useful, Armored Dweebie-dillo", said Gutsman.

"I am not following your orders," Armored Armadillo replied, "I'm doing a favor for my leader."

Gutsman grabbed Rave out of the wheel barrel, ready to do what he does best. "Now scram!" He shouted at Armored Armadillo, before heading to his chamber, the mechanical mammal still stood there as the doors get ready to close down.

"Goodbye, X." Those are the last words from Armored Armadillo before the doors finally close down.

As he entered his chamber, Gutsman is ready to crush Rave like a squeezeable stress relief toy, he opened his eyes and sees Gutsman's "I'm gonna crush you" face, he quickly shot a X-Buster plasma shot on his arm, dropping the blue armored teen.

"That hurt, blue dweeb!" Gutsman shouted.

Rave raised up after he landed on the floor, looking at his current surroundings. "Did you bring me here?" He asked Gutsman.

"No, but that puny armadillo did," Gutsman replied.

"Are you talking about Armored Armadillo, by any chance?" His eyebrows were raised, "He's a Maverick Hunter of the 8th Armored Division."

"Yes, he brought you here in a wheel barrel, saying goodbye to you, because I'm about to pound ya!" Gutsman ended.

"It looks like I'm going to have a field trip with this one." Rave spoke, switching to the Hyper Bomb weapon with his armor changing color to green and white. "And I'm here to take you out, Gutsman!"

"Just try it!" Gutsman slammed his foot on the ground, triggering a small earthquake as a huge rock falls down from the ceiling, he catches it, and throws it Rave.

He dodged it by dashing between his legs, and throws a Hyper Bomb at him. "Good thing his intelligence isn't great at this point," He thought.

"That smarts!" Gutsman screamed after the Hyper Bomb exploded on him.

Rave attacked him again with a kick, but it didn't work as Gutsman didn't flinch, since he's stronger than his blue-armored opponent. He gave him a huge smack afterwards, and knocked back to the ground.

He slowly got back up, seeing the giant robot wanting to attack him again. He pulled out an E-Tank but Gutsman threw a medium-sized boulder at him, preventing him from drinking it. He tried to dodge roll from the attack, but still got a face full of stone in his face, as he's still damaged from the small fight with Bass earlier, as well as falling into the underground mine's back enterance.

The gates opened up, revealing to be Rave's savior Zero, he dashed into action as he shoots Gutsman with his Z-Buster cannon, trying to stall him so his friend can restore his energy.

Rave picked up the E-Tank, and drinks some of it as he watched the burly robot grabbed Zero, performing a spinning pile driver, giving the crimson hunter one heck of a headache.

"Zero!" Rave screamed after watching Gutsman using something far more dangerous than just his trademark Super Arm ability to keep Zero down while he goes after the

horrified Blue Bomber. Gutsman picked up Zero, then throws him at Rave, he caught him just before he knocks back on to the floor.

He tried to wake him up, but he appears to be out cold from the spinning pile driver. He shared the E-Tank with him, making sure that he and Zero are going to survive the fight against Gutsman and rescuing him from Wily's orders. Zero's energy is now 60% as he wakes back up.

Zero's hand turns back into his Z-Buster cannon, aiming at Gutsman's lower body. "My, you got a nice, tell-toned butt you got there!" He shouted.

_DUN-DUN!_

Gutsman quickly turned around, that what Zero said that made him really mad. "You asked for it, blondie!" He runs after Zero but is stopped by Rave who threw a Hyper Bomb at him. Zero fires his buster at Gutsman's head, trying to slow him down. "I can't see!"

"Did you really have to do that?" Rave spoke with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Zero snickered, "I had to!"

Rave shrugged as he goes back to fighting Gutsman. He grabbed the giant's arm as data transfers to him, copying his Super Arm move. His armor colors change to brown and white and attempts to pick up Gutsman, at full strength.

"No way!" Zero thought while seeing Rave holding Gutsman.

While holding the brawny robot in his hands, the Blue Bomber performs the Flying Power Bomb, which eventually made Gutsman break down into pieces as he finished performing that move thanks to the Super Arm, which is more than just lifting huge boulders, but he'll need it when he encounters Cutman afterwards.

"Geez, Rave! Lay off the Street Fighter games, will ya?" Zero spoke, athough amazed by his friend's incredible performance.

Rave snickered, as he tried to pick up Gutsman's remains, Zero helped him out before leaving the area.

In the Abel City Maverick Hunter base, Rock is looking for clues that involve Viktor Sigma, the commander of the 17th unit, to see if he's doing anything that he isn't supposed to do, he climbed into the empty office and closed the windows, blinds, as well as locking the door. He opened a file cabinet, looking through folders upon folders to see if Sigma really supports Dr. Wily's activities, or worse.

He found one particular folder, with the big, red words that say "TOP SECRET" on it. Rock opens it up, revealing several piles of papers, which are plans and ideas for his upcoming chance of becoming the ruler of an all-Maverick world once all of Wily's forces run dry.

Rock is horrified, he knew that Sigma was behind this all along, even yesterday while he was talking to Dr. Wily through a walkie-talkie. He opened the window back up and climbs back down with the folder in hand. As he's back on ground, he put the folder in his backpack. He got on his tween-sized Ride Chaser to get back to Dr. Light's lab as soon as possible.

An image of a robot with a veil with four red flower petals, with yellow dots on each one, appears on the Ride Chaser's screen, he has red eyes and some peeks of green hair coming out of his veil. "Hey, Rock!" Said the robot, "When's your brother coming back?"

"He'll be back once he gets Gutsman back on our side," Rock replied, "Is there something wrong, Plantman?"

"Cutman's cutting down trees left and right in North Virgina, and threatens to harm some deer if anyone stands in his way! If he doesn't arrive soon, I'm going to talk to my creator about getting a plane ticket back to Brazil!"

Rock raised his eyebrows, but understands what Plantman said about the current situation with Cutman. "I'll go talk to him once he gets back, just stay put!"

"Please do," Plantman started again, "I tried throwing my Plant Barriers at him, but it didn't work. I think anything made out of stone might take care of him."

"After all, he does hate playing rock, paper and scissors," Rock smiled, "So it makes sense."

Another Robot Master defeated means another loss for Dr. Wily, as Gutsman's mugshot now has the "INACTIVE" tag curtesy of Dr. Light's android son, Rave. Somewhere in the Skull Fortress, Wily is no longer bothered by Rave's (and Iceman on one occasion) constant rescue missions involving the reprogrammed Robot Masters, as he's working on

robots of his own, some of them are based on Dr. Light's creations in terms of looks and weaponry.

Bass has yet to hear Wily scream after Gutsman's defeat, he'd rather have his creator not screaming everytime a Robot Master gets defeated by the super fighting robot himself, creating peace and quiet in the Skull Fortess, or far from it due to the sounds of sawing and clanking from the robot building in distance. "You've gotta be kidding me," Bass thought, followed by an "OW!" from his creator, obtaining an injury from doing so.

"Aren't you worried that Rave is going after Cutman and Elecman next?" Said Bass.

"A little," Wily replied in the distance.

"You should be if that huge, bald android man takes over."

"I'm not worried about him anymore. I can take shelter underground when he does."

Bass raises his eyebrow after hearing what his creator said, "Did he just got optimistic?" he thought. "That's a first."

"You can once he does." Wily started again. "I am not going to risk losing you when it happens. I know you hate my guts, but-"

"But nothing!" Bass cuts Wily's lecture off rudely. "Enjoy building more junk bots, pops, I've got better things to do," Bass left the room, not caring about Wily building his own forces to in order to stop Rave. In fact, he'd rather fight Rave himself in a rematch, to see who's the strongest robot on Earth. His armor is still burnt from the Fire Storm attack Rave gained from Fireman and wouldn't mind getting some repairs. "Whatever happened to that girly robot he was working on?" That is a good question.

Wily continues to work tirelessly on his upcoming Robot Masters, so far, only a few of them are completed, but he's not going to activate them once Sigma takes over his spot as the king of world domination, fearing that he'll destroy them one by one. He'll do so once Sigma is out of the picture.

The workshop itself is a mess, countless robot parts lying around everywhere, a giant piece of wood is seen on top of a table (breaking it in half in the progress), a giant Ride Armor resembling a zippo lighter is blocking the entrance to the hangar, and one robot that has a giant fan on its stomach broke the bed of his missing "ultimate android" he once worked on.

"Who needs him?" Wily thought while putting a band-aid on his finger, "My new robots will take care of me." Once he takes over, I'll be placing them in an underground lab.

They'll be more safer down there." Security and safety is now on Wily's side, which is something he never had before after reprogramming Light's robots.

Once Cutman and Elecman are out of the picture, Wily has a couple more surprises in store for Rave once he enters the Skull Fortress before he taking shelter in the underground lab.

"I'll make a great comeback once Sigma is out of the picture, and i hope that he'll take Rave with him!" Wily spoke before breaking out in evil laughter.

Rave has returned back to his father's laboratory with Gutsman in repairs, and brought Zero with him, introducing his family to the crimson hunter who rescued him twice. Light gave Zero a handshake for saving Rave from impending doom, and he knew that his son was right about him 100%. He even introduced him to the robots who are free from Dr. Wily's grasp, and so far, there are only four of them rescued, as Cutman and Elecman are the only two robots remain under Wily's orders. The family's Metool, and Rave's

robot cat Tango, are also present in the meeting.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Zero," Light started.

"You as well, doctor," Zero replied, "I see you're the creator of your son, Rave."

"Yes, i am. He told me about you since last night."

"I can tell."

Light pauses for a moment, remembering what Rave said that he called Zero "Blues" when he first met him during the fight against Fireman. "He said that you called you "Blues", after he first saw you."

Zero scratches his head, "He said Blues disappeared after having a glitch in his system, is that true?"

"Yes," Light replied, "His energy core malfunctioned. I wanted to fix him but he wouldn't let me, as i created him with independent thinking and reasoning. So he left the laboratory and he never returned ever again. I learned from my mistakes and making sure the same thing didn't happen to Rave, Rock and Roll the following year."

The red armored man now understands what really happened to Blues after Light has failed to repair him. "Your children are lucky they don't have to live with a fragile energy core for their entire lives. Even i escaped from that, too."

"It's a shame he never came back," Rave added, in a sad tone.

"I know, my son," Light comfort him with a hand on his shoulder. "Like he said, your energy core is stable, that's what really matters."

Tango meows at Rave, as she agrees with Dr. Light. He petted her afterwards as he smiled at the green cat-bot.

Rock comes in to the laboratory, wanting to talk to his older brother about Cutman's irregular behavior. "Rave, i want to talk to you about Cutman." He looked at everyone in the room, "I'm sorry if i interrupted something."

Dr. Light looks at his younger son, "No, it's fine," he spoke. Rave on the other hand, isn't ready about what his brother is about to hear about the timber-collecting robot.

"He's not only planning on chop down the forest areas of North Virginia, he's holding a family of deer as hostages!"

Rave gasped, knowing that Wily's reprogramming has gone to the highest level of "gone too far" moments, and it sure takes the cake with Cutman, of all the six robot masters he took from Dr. Light. Even Roll is horrified, since she loves animals as well.

He had nothing else to say, except the fact that he knew what Robot Master he's going after next, then Elecman. He quickly teleported out of the laboratory and is already on his way to get Cutman out of Wily's control.

"Be careful, Rave..." Roll spoke after seeing her older brother teleport. "Please Cutman... Don't hurt the deer..."

"Meow?" Tango meowed out of curiosity.

Rave travels to North Virgina by teleport, once arrived, he was horrified to see the damage that Cutman has done. "He freaking cut nearly every tree down in this highway!" He thought. He saw several familiar robots that he encountered a few robots ago, the Mambu's, the Screw Bombers, Octopus Batteries, the occasional Kamadoma, Bunby Heli's, the Beak turrets and the Big Eye. "Well, at least there's no Gabyoalls to worry about." Before finding Cutman, his mind is focused on rescuing a family of deer, who accidently crossed paths with the timber collecting robot.

_"Cutman! Don't you dare hurt these innocent animals!"_

**_To be Continued_**  
**_Next: Cutman_**

* * *

The Gutsman's $$ meme was once started by Kajetokun of Youtube, and it's still alive today.


	5. Cutman Scissorhead

While Rave is trying to rescue the deer from Cutman in Northern Virginia, Rock found and grabbed what appears to be a discarded buster arm cannon from the storage room of Dr. Light's laboratory, he quickly left the room and starts working on it in the basement.

Using the blueprints of his older brother's battle armor, he creates several modifications on the buster, adding the Variable Weapons System into it so he can copy Robot Masters' (and eventually, Mavericks) weaponry during and after battle. He is going to keep it as a secret, not wanting to expain it to his sister and the rescued Light robots, but maybe to his creator.

Rock has already made up his mind. He wants to be a super fighting robot like his older brother, he wants to save the world from Wily's ambitions and to restore peace and harmony to this planet.

Back at the forest, Rave avoided most of Cutman's forces out in the open, except for the Super Cutters popping out and the Bunby Heli's dive bombing into him, he finally saw a family of deer trapped in the cages, unharmed. "Thank goodness they're okay!" He breathed a huge sigh of relief, he opened the cages and pet one of the deer before they roam free throughout the area.

It doesn't end there as he sees a lumberjack factory, possibly belonging to the scissor-headed robot Cutman as his base of operations. He switched to the Super Arm weapon and enters the factory, and starts seeing several Octopus Batteries about to fly into the blue-armored teen. He ducked before they ever ram into him, followed by a parade of Mambu's and Bunby Heli's about to do their thing like they usually do. For the Mambu's, they open their shell to fire lasers and for the latter, dive bomb into Rave.

He grabbed a Mambu and starts swing it at the Bunby Heli's and their kind with the Super Arm, knocking them into oblivion repeatedly until Cutman exits his chamber, investigating the noise from outside, and eventually sees Rave responsible for taking out his forces.

"I can't believe it!" Cutman started, "Dr. Wily was right! You've been changed into a Maverick!" He lets out a wheezy laugh.

Rave rolled his eyes, replied, "You're lying! You're the one who's acting Maverick, Cutman! You're coming back to the laboratory and that's final!"

"I can care less. I'm gonna slice you in half, blue dweeb!" Cutman grabs his scissors from his head, throws it at Rave like a boomerang, but the latter dodges the Rolling Cutter, it returns to Cutman's head. He tries again but with two Rolling Cutters and Rave didn't dodge them this time.

With the help from the Super Arm weapon he obtained from Gutsman, Rave attempts to pick him up, wacking Cutman's head on the machinery like a battering ram, and throws him out of the window like Gutsman did to him last night.

Cutman rolled all the way down outside to a forest with huge rocks. Yes, rocks. He got up and sees Rave jumping off the broken window and lands into the same area. And he knew that Rave is already playing a game of Rock, Paper and Scissors, _Mega Man_ style!

"I'm glad that your plan of keeping the deer hostage backfired on you!" Rave shouted, "They hadn't done anything wrong!"

"I wasn't planning on keeping them longer anyway," Cutman replied, "And besides, you're the one i want! How about some Cut-Fu?"

_"Cut-Fu?_" Rave thought. Cutman began to kick and chop the Blue Bomber but blocks some of his attacks, but he got kicked in the shins afterward. Rave fell into the ground in

pain, and Cutman sure did gave him more than just cuts on his armor. He pulled out a Rolling Cutter and began cutting several trees surrounding Rave. He quickly dashed out of the way before the trees hit the ground. "That was close!" He shouted, then turns his attention back to Cutman. "Want to play Rock, Paper and Scissors, Cutman?"

"NO!" Cutman shouted back.

"Suit yourself." Rave picked up a huge rock and hurled it at Cutman, and boy, that hurt!

The orange-and-white robot screamed after the rock smashed him, sending him into the grassy floor. He got back up with a near-broken pair of scissors on his head, "I always hated Rock, Paper and Scissors!" Cutman shouted, stomping his feet on the ground. He began to use a different cutter-based weapon, he grabs a large, yoyo-like weapon with 2 blades on it, and starts swing it back and forth.

_"Sizzling Circuits!"_ Rave shouted while trying to dodge the yoyo blade, it sliced open his abdomen and black liquid (assuming that's battery fluid) began to leak from it. He's going to need more than an E-Tank to save his life, he holds his chest, preventing any more of his battery fluid coming out of his abdomen. If this continues, he's going to faint from battery loss. He quickly contacted Dr. Light to teleport him out of the forest and have Zero fill in for him so he can get repaired as soon as possible.

"Dad!" Rave screamed into the communicator, "Send Zero and get me out of here before Cutman attacks me again!"

Back in the lab, Dr. Light already heard his son's screams. Horrified, he did what his son told him to do. Rave teleported in a blue light, escaping from Cutman's wrath.

"Hey! Get back here!" Cutman shouted as he sees his foe escaping. "I'm not done with you yet!"

As soon as Rave teleported to the lab, he fell down the floor due to some battery loss. Dr. Light, Roll, and the four rescued Light robots gasped as they see him faint. Rock would've been present but he's still working on his own buster arm cannon, but hears what's going on to his older brother.

"Rave!" Roll shouted, with tears in her eyes.

"Hang on, sir!" Iceman added, running up to him.

Although he's not done repaired, Gutsman lift the injured Blue Bomber on to the repair table, allowing Dr. Light to give his son the repairs he seriously needs.

Zero, he too is upset, seeing the teen he rescued twice with some serious damage. Rave already told Light to fill in for him before fainting. He held his hand for a few moments, transferring the Super Arm weapon to Zero. He's going to fulfull his order by teleporting to North Virginia, to continue where Rave left off. Sure, Cutman's disappointed as Zero arrives, but the crimson hunter doesn't seem to care.

"I don't want to fight you!" Cutman whined, "I want the blue dweeb!"

Already furious at Cutman, Zero picked up a tree that's already cut down by Cutman's Rolling Cutter, and strikes Cutman with it.

"Owww!" Cutman screamed yet again as the tree's bark is more powerful than its bite, knocking him into the ground. He got back up and began using Rolling Cutter on Zero, he dodged, but it cut some of his hair.

Zero noticed it, and he wasn't pleased about the timber-collecting robot's actions. "Nobody gives me a bad haircut!" He shouted. He picked up Cutman and starts using him as a battering ram, banging his head with a nearby boulder repeatedly, torturing him with it.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"That's for hurting my friend, you scissor-headed creep!" Zero shouted.

Cutman's scissors on his head even began to falter and break apart. "Hey! I'm sorry, all right?" He tried to apologize to Zero, but he isn't buying it 100%.

"Sorry is not going to get Rave's abdomen repaired!" Zero replied, still holding Cutman.

Cutman pulled out his yoyo blade again and tries to attack Zero with it the same way he did with Rave. Luckily, he put Cutman down and got out of the way before it did any major damage. It only gave Zero a minor cut on his cheek.

"Want a haircut, blondie?" He lets out a Peter Lorre-ish wheezy laugh. Even without the scissors on his head, Cutman can still fight with the yoyo blade weapon.

"No, i do not!" Zero shouted, while dodging. He grabbed Cutman and performed the Final Atomic Buster, starting with two Atomic Suplexes, and finish him off with a devastating Spinning Piledriver, landing into the chopped down trees and rocks. They are sent flying afterward.

Minutes later as Zero is out cold from performing this move thanks to the Super Arm Rave gave him and Cutman is already in pieces. The former regain consciousness and look at his current surroundings. He saw Cutman lying there, with pieces of him scattered throughout the battlefield.

Bombman teleported into the area with a wheel barrel, gathering what's left of Cutman before returning into the lab. He was also amazed by watching Zero finishing off Cutman with the Final Atomic Buster, wanting to know if he wants to learn it. "Say, Zero, how do you perform that move, anyway?" Bombman asked.

"Lots of practice," Zero replied, "But you might want to check out some Street Fighter and get advice from Gutsman, and maybe Zangief, since the move actually came from him in the first place."

"I'll be sure to remember that. I would love to use that move against Sigma's upcoming forces with an explosive twist to it."

Zero's eyes widened after he heard what Bombman said. "You're serious, right?"

"Rock and Roll said that Wily was working for him, but once the old man runs out of his men, he's going to take over."

Although he's working with the Maverick Hunters, like his friend Rave, he starts getting concerned, but tends to keep his cool. If Bombman, Rock and Roll are right about this, he'll have to find that out eventually.

At the Skull Fortress, Cutman's mugshot now has the "INACTIVE" tag over it. The only robot master left in Wily's side is Elecman.

"Are you sure your plan will work?" Bass spoke to the masked robot master on the laptop, sitting on his bed.

"It will be an electrifying success, Bass," Elecman replied while he's sitting at a table, with a modified Atari joystick next to him, "I bet Dr. Wily will be thrilled about my new idea of running Abel City as the new mayor of reprogrammed electronics. I already invaded the power plant, and put in a device that makes simple electrical appliances go haywire."

Bass almost fell down from his bed with laptop on hand. "Mayor?!" He shouted. "Are you nuts, Lecky? You should just shock the living daylights out of the Maverick Hunters, except Rave, rather than running for mayor! They won't take you seriously as a robot master!"

Elecman chuckled slyly. "I can still take them out, but the real fun will begin once midnight rolls around."

"I'll probably be asleep while you're doing your dirty work." Bass replied.

"How's Dr. Wily holding up?" Elecman asked.

"Well, earlier, he was scared of Sigma taking over his spot, and now, he's not worried about it anymore. It's like he wants to have another chance of him being a king after this so-called "Day of Sigma" blows over."

"Hopefully this won't happen once i run for mayor. He won't survive my Thunder Beam, either."

"I heard he's an S-Class Maverick Hunter, so he might take down Robot Masters like you easily."

"I'm not worried about that."

"You should be, Elecman. This is serious."

Elecman sighed. "Oh, all right. I'll take shelter when he rules with an iron fist, making the city a horrible wasteland full of men of his rank."

"Good. I prefer not to have him as the ruler anyway, but i can't get the idea of you as the mayor out of my memory circuits. But by the way... Where's the other mayor?"

"He'll be in good hands, Bass."

The mayor is tied up by a phone cord, behind of Elecman's desk. He has yet to remove him from his new office.

The Light family has struck an almost major blow as Cutman sliced open Rave's abdomen earlier. He is going through heavy repairs, Dr. Light has requested Bombman, Gutsman and Fireman to repair Cutman while he repairs Rave. Rock, Roll and Iceman are also oblidged to help out him out all afternoon and into the nighttime hours.

Tango sat by Rave's bedside, letting out a sad meow as she sees her owner going through huge repairs. Even the Metool hasn't left his side either. Zero is sitting on a chair, hoping to see his friend pull through after the chaos, and the outcome is will be good, according to Dr. Light.

"Well," Light spoke first as he wipes a bead of sweat off of his forehead., "I've got some good news. We gave him plenty of energy and battery oil as well as repairing his internal systems, that means he's stabilized, but he's not out of the woods yet, we have to patch up the wound and treat the other injuries as well."

The good news gave everyone a huge sigh of relief.

"Did you hear that Roll?" Said Rock in a hopeful tone, "Our brother's going to make it!"

"Thank goodness!" Roll replied happily but turns into concern, "But what about Elecman?"

"I'll have to do something about him since Rave's going to be in repairs for awhile." Zero answered.

Fireman looks at Zero, "You're going to bring Elecman to justice?"

"Yes. At both Rave and his creator's request. He's the only Robot Master left."

"That's good," Gutsman spoke, "We're almost back together again. I feel like singing some karaoke, but right now, Rave needs us."

"You'll have to save that for later." Said Zero to Gutsman.

"Do you think that the other Maverick Hunters are worried about Rave, too?" Rock asked.

"Yes, they are." Zero replied. "All of them, but one."

"Is Sigma the exception?" Roll added.

Zero nodded. "Bombman told me."

"Glad to be on board." Said Rock, giving Zero a smile.

It's midnight in the streets of Abel City, a young android wearing green armor with a light blue bodysuit underneath is leaving the Maverick Hunter base. He opens the door to the garage, but an AWOL Ride Chaser began to chase him out of the building, screaming in fear.

Several phone booths glued shut as civilians try to escape from it while the traffic lights go haywire, causing car accidents left and right. The Gizmo City electronics store is off limits due to household appliances chasing after innocent people, as well as a cosmetic bot giving her customers a bad makeover.

Same goes with the subways not making their scheduled stops above ground and underground, the occasional runaway Ride Armors chasing several Maverick Hunters and civilians, and some aircraft refuse to land, as they're flying around in circles.

The green android attempts to contact Zero while hiding in the city's underground subway station, safe from the berserk Ride Chaser. "Kevin Greene to Zero, come in please!"

Back in Dr. Light's laboratory, Zero has fallen asleep on the chair while his friend, Rave, is recovering from Cutman's yoyo blade attack.

"Kevin Greene to Zero, come in! This is an emergency!"

"Huh?" Zero woke up from Kevin's shouting through the communicator. "Zero speaking, is everything okay?"

"No," Kevin replied, "All the electronics in this city has gone Maverick thanks to Elecman and his crazy scheme! He wants to be the new mayor of Abel City while doing so! This is crazy!"

"Oh, boy. I promised Rave and Dr. Light to bring Elecman back, so I'm on my way."

By the time Zero hangs up, the berserk Ride Chaser returns. Kevin tries another attempt to run away from it, but it just keeps following him.

_**To be continued**_  
_**Next: Elecman**_

* * *

_**A/N: If you're familiar with the Green Biker Dude from Mega Man X2, he's also going to be in the next episode and i gave him a name, "Kevin Greene". The upcoming Elecman episode is called "Electric Nightmare," and it's just like its Ruby Spears cartoon counterpart, but it'll have some changes, as well as a surprise robot master who makes a guest appearance, who is filling in for Pharaoh Man, since he may not appear in this version of the said episode. Sorry.  
**_

_**Read and review (the latter is optional), as well for pointing out grammar mistakes and typos.**_


	6. Electric Nightmare

Elecman shouldn't be that difficult to find since he's located in the mayor's mansion outside of Abel City. As if it wasn't crazy enough for Wily wanting to be the leader of the new world, yet Elecman's running for mayor, taking over the city with the reprogrammed electronics with the help with the Override Relay device that is connected to the power plant's electrical grid.

As Zero teleports to the city, he sees the civilians being trapped in phone booths and several cars and trucks totaled thanks to the traffic light going bonkers. Horrfifed, he punches open the phone booths' windows without harming them, rescuing one human at a time.

He heard more civilians screaming in the Gizmo City electronics store, he ran inside and they are chased by various appliances, big and small. Zero shot down some of the electronics that were chasing the humans down, saving their lives.

The giant big-screen TV turns itself on, revealing to be none other than Elecman himself. His eyes widened as he sees Zero attempting to foil his plan, instead of Rave, who is still in repairs since his fight with Cutman. "You!" He shouted. "You were supposed to be Wily's ultimate android...!"

Hearing that gives Zero a bit of a headache, trying to fight it off. "Sorry to disappoint you," Zero replied, "But I'm here to stop your crazy scheme and save you from Wily's reprogramming!"

"Well, no matter. I guess my "friends" will have to destroy you before you ever reach my new mansion." Elecman laughs before the TV turns off as larger electrical appliances began to surround Zero.

"There's too many of them!" Zero shouted, "But they're not going to stop me as long as i have the Rolling Cutter weapon from Cutman!" He switched to the said weapon, and throws a pair of circular-shaped scissors around the crazy electronics, cutting them in half. "I better beat it before i become the red plate special!" Zero tries to make a break for it, but more of the smaller electronics keep coming. To save the Rolling Cutter's ammo, he gives them each a karate chop and a kick, switching back to the Z-Buster arm cannon, shooting down a flying electric knife.

Outside the store, Kevin arrives with a Ride Chaser that is no longer reprogrammed by Elecman's Override Relay device, assuming he might've fixed it along the way. He hopped off the bike and runs into the store's intrance. "Zero's in trouble," He spoke, "Good thing i got here in time."

He looked at the make up department, looking for Zero, who still might be in the kitchen aisle. He stopped walking as Elecman shows up on a ceiling TV.

"Welcome to the cosmetics department, Maverick Hunter," Elecman spoke, "For a green armored guy like you, Rosie the cosmetic bot will give you... The beauty treatment!"

The pink-haired cosmetic bot Rosie appears out of nowhere, throwing Kevin into a salon chair, restraining him. "It looks like I'm going to give you a makeover, green biker cutie-pie!" She spoke as a powder puff comes out of her arm, giving Kevin a bad makeover to his face, adding white, pastel blue and yellow face paint.

Back at the kitchen aisle, a corrupted soda machine spat out a soda can attacking an innocent man. Zero appears and kicks the soda machine so it won't attack the man ever again. "I guess the soda machine's out of order." Said Zero.

"Zero, behind you!" The man shouted as a lawn mower tried to run Zero down, along with a blender, a toaster and a hair dryer.

He jumps from the lawn mower first, then destroys the three small appliances with it. "I doubt that's covered under warranty." Zero winked.

"No! Stop!" Kevin screamed.

"Kevin!" Zero shouted. He runs into the make up department, seeing Rosie continuing to give the green biker dude's face a makeover. "I don't think he's interested in make up."

She turned around to see Zero, attempting to attack him. He stops Rosie by throwing a bottle of powder at her. Her face is covered in white powder and her cheek spots are light pink.

"AAAH! My face!" Rosie screamed. "You dare you mess up my lovely face!"

"You just hang tight, Kev, I'll handle her." Said Zero while he pulled the chair's restraints out of Kevin.

"No, Zero!" Kevin shouted, as he stood up from the chair, "She's the one who gave me the bad makeover! And besides, she's mine!" He picked up an electric knife and proceeds to fight Rosie, leading to a comical battle between the green biker dude and the cosmetic bot. Zero watched the battle with a confused look, seeing a young, rookie Maverick Hunter like Kevin slices Rosie in half.

"Feeling kind of low?" Kevin spoke, as he picks up a vacuum cleaner turning it on, "Now it's your turn to have a facelift, pinky!" The vacuum sucks Rosie's face right out of her robotic skeleton head, as she screamed one last time before she fainted.

"Yikes, Kevin," Zero spoke after the fight was over, "Did you really have to vacuum her face off?"

"Good thing that it wasn't you in that salon chair, otherwise you'd be the one with messy paint on your face." Kevin replied, while wiping the make up off his face with a small hand towel.

Larger appliances crawl near to Zero and Kevin, trying to pester them once more. "When will this end?!" Kevin yelped.

"I wonder if Dr. Light's still awake, and i hope he knows about Elecman's crazy idea of him being the mayor, and making every machine attack us!" Said Zero while the duo ran out of the store with the corrupted electronics are hot on their tail. He opened the plate to the sewers, both he and Kevin jump down so they won't be attacked by the electrical appliances.

"Of all the places, Zero..." Said Zero, after they landed into the sewer area, which is messy, smelly, and luckily, free of any machinery.

"I know it's disgusting, Kevin, but It's the only place we can hide from those Maverick electronics." Zero spoke.

"Do you think Dr. Light will make a Override Relay device that makes them stop moving?"

Kevin's right about the whole thing, and that gave Zero an idea, wanting to share it with the kind doctor through the communicator. "Of course he can. He's a brilliant guy."

In the laboratory, Dr. Light is still awake and he's adjusting the lab's power grid so the electronics won't attack him or his family while Rave is still in repairs. A beeping sound is coming from the computer, he got up from the chair and presses a few keys. Zero appears on the screen.

"Dr. Light," Zero started, "Do you think you can make a device that stops the electronics going haywire?"

"It's already built while i was adjusting the laboratory's power grid." Light replied.

"I'll stop by at your place and pick it up. I have to go to the power plant to reverse the damage while Zero can rescue Elecman!" Kevin added.

"Good idea, Kevin. Getting Elecman back is a one step closer to stopping Wily."

"I'll do anything to help you guys out, even through I'm new to this Maverick Hunting stuff."

"If we get out of this alive, Rave and the domestic robots will thank you for your actions, too." Zero ended.

"I'll be back, Z." Kevin leaves Zero alone to deal with Elecman while he stops by at Dr. Light's lab to pick up the device. His next stop is the mayor's mansion.

The chaos continues throughout the city, from people being stuck in elevators to runaway buses while Elecman is telling everyone to stay calm through the P.A.

"No need to panic, my fellow citizens of Abel City, it is i, Mayor Elecman, will have the situation under control until Zero arrives. I want you to remain indoors or in your vehicles in the meantime."

"You're lying," Kevin spoke at Elecman's voice, while riding on his Ride Chaser and is en route to Dr. Light's laboratory. "How is everyone's going to calm down while every machine on this city is chasing after human life?!"

There was no reply.

Elecman continues watching what he has created on a computer monitor. He gives the modfied Atari joystick to a Crazy Razy as he left the office and enters his new bedroom,

only to see a Gabyoall crawling on a bed left and right.

"No," Elecman spoke to the small robot while picking it up, "Crawling on the bed's off limits." He placed the Gabyoall on the dresser and sits down on the bed. He grabbed a electric guitar and starts playing it.

Back in the lab, Dr. Light has finished adjusing the lab's power grid by giving it a security feature, preventing Elecman gaining control of its electronics. "There, that should do it." Little does Light know that there's someone right behind him, trying to attack him.

"Tom, behind you!" Kevin shouted.

He turned around to see a tall robot in green and teal armor with yellow jumpsuit underneath, he has a black visor that covers up his entire face, which is part of his green helmet. Kevin tackled the mysterious robot to prevent him from hurting the kind doctor.

The tall robot got back up after the attack, saying "You shouldn't have done that, you little green twerp! I guess I'm gonna have to give you cavities with dynamite!" He threw a stick of dynamite at Kevin but he grabbed it, throwing it out the window and exploded.

The explosion has startled everyone from their slumber, Bombman is the first one to get up to see what's going on in the laboratory, followed by Fireman. Once they entered, they see Kevin battling the tall robot. "Dynaman?!" Bombman shouted, "He got reprogrammed too?! No way!"

"Peister's going to be upset about this." Fireman added.

Kevin had little time to think, since Dynaman threw another stick of dynamite at him but threw it back at the latter, hurting him in the process. Bombman joins in by throwing a Hyper Bomb at Dynaman, blasting him into bits but the tall green robot teleported out of the lab.

"You okay?" Kevin asked Dr. Light.

"I'm fine," Light replied, "But you've got to get to the power plant and attach this device to shut down Elecman's control circuits, it's the only way." He gave Kevin the reversal Override Relay device.

"Thanks, Tom. I'll do everything i can." Kevin turns around to see Bombman and Fireman, who is awake from the explosion. "I guess he woke you up too?"

"Of course he did," Bombman added, "I'm afraid that Dr. Wily has gotten hold of one of Peister's robots, doing the same thing to them like he did to all of us!"

Kevin gulped after he heard what Bombman said, afraid that there's more robots that Dr. Wily reprogrammed besides the six robots that Dr. Light built. He has no time to worry about that now as he begins to leave the lab with the device in hand.

Zero arrives outside at the mansion, which is guarded by a Big Eye and a Gabyoall. He sneaks out of the bushes and attacks the Big Eye with the Z-Buster. He stepped over the Gabyoall without any problem and proceeds into Elecman's mansion.

In the hallway, he sees 2 Watchers shooting small electrical beams, Zero shoots both of them with his Z-Buster, going upstairs to Elecman's office, it has the "Dr. W" logo on the door. Upon his arrival, he sees a Crazy Razy holding the joystick, he drops it on the table as he got startled.

"Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!" The robot yelped, "I'm just an innocent robot!"

"I'm not here to hurt you," Zero responded, "Where is Elecman?"

Elecman returned back to the office, only to see Zero point his Z-Buster at the Crazy Razy. "Barbarian S-Class blondie!" He shouted. "You're trying to threaten this poor adorable robot with your arm cannon!"

"Kevin's already on his way to the power plant to stop your crazy scheme!" Zero switched to the Rolling Cutter weapon.

"He'll never undo the beauty of everyday machines that are still running rampant tonight! They are still going after him!"

"They won't be like that for long."

Elecman paused a bit. "Oh, i almost forgot, whatever happened to the Blue Bomber, Rave?"

"He got hurt while trying to save Cutman. He's going to be fine. And you're the last 'bot to get rescued!"

"I don't need to be rescued by you. If you were still being worked on, and were threatened by Rave, then I'd believe you-"

"Shut up!" Zero cuts Elecman off, not wanting to hear what the masked robot has to say.

Elecman unleashes his Thunder Beam at Zero, but dodges as he fires a Rolling Cutter at him, it only sliced a small part of Elecman's mask. Zero give him a kick to his stomach, knocking him back on the table, destroying it in half. The Crazy Razy leaves the room in a panic. Elecman got back up and shocks Zero for a few seconds, then throws him on the floor.

"Hearing you scream is so enlightening!" Elecman spoke.

Zero got back up and fires another Rolling Cutter at him, this time, it sliced Elecman's arm open, giving him a gash wound.

Elecman looked at his injury, then gives Zero a nasty look on his face. "How dare you!" He fired another Thunder Beam at him, but Zero dodged it once more. He fired several, small spheres of electricity. Zero dodged some of them while 3 of them successfully shock him.

"Had enough, blondie?" Elecman taunted.

"No!" Zero replied, punching Elecman right in the left eye, then performs a submission hold on the energy-collecting Robot Master. It doesn't work as Elecman simply shocks him again, and is freed from the crimson hunter's grasp.

It was Elecman's turn to do a submission hold, but with an electrifying twist. Zero screamed in pain while the masked robot continues to do harm. He saw the joystick that the Crazy Razy dropped after he ran off. He grabbed the stick and an electric knife appears out of nowhere, stabbing Elecman on the right shoulder.

_"AAAAAAHHHH!"_

He released Zero as he howled in pain, letting the blonde android gain control of the joystick if the Rolling Cutter isn't enough to attack him. He tweaked the controls a little bit, letting a few electronics attack him instead of the innocent civilians outside the mansion. "This should be fun," Zero taunted.

"Get away!" Elecman shouted while firing the Thunder Beam at the machines.

Zero was enjoying every second of torturing Elecman with a manical grin on his face, using the appliances he reprogrammed with the Override Relay device. _Was he supposed to rescue Elecman? Is there a mysterious side-effect from that headache Zero had back at the Gizmo City store?_

Elecman is trapped in a corner, with nothing but the corrupted machinery still attacking him one-by-one, shouting in fear. Almost near at the end of his rope, he began to call for help. "Voltman!"

A large, red robot with two golden electrodes act as shoulder pads, has a lightning bolt on his stomach, and wears yellow boots and gloves, has burst into the office, seeing Elecman surrounded and Zero using the joystick.

"Throw that horrific red nightmare out of my mansion at once!" Elecman screamed.

Voltman accepts Elecman's plea as he picks up Zero and throws him out of the window. He soon follows as he too, jumped out of the very same window.

Zero got back up, trying to punch Voltman, but he kept dodging until Zero grabs his arm, data begins to transfer to him, meaning that he has copy his weapon. Unlike Rave and Iceman, Zero's armor doesn't change colors. "Now i got your power!"

Voltman punched Zero, yet again sending him into the grassy floor and got back up. He activates the Force Field, surrounding the red android, he tackles Voltman and begins malfunctioning, due to electrical overload. He is sent flying into the sky afterwards, and began to explode like fireworks in the sky.

"Happy 4th of July!" Zero shouted while watching the fireworks continue to go off.

Back in the streets of Abel City, Kevin finally reaches the power plant, dodging and avoiding several Gabyoalls, Big Eyes and Watchers. And the Sniper Joe that guarded the entrance, who was ran over by Kevin's Ride Chaser. He inserts the device into the master computer and presses several keys. "I hope this works."

All of the electronics began to function normally as they stopped working, freeing the civilians (and Elecman) from the madness.

Even the mansion finally grew quiet as the electronics drop to the floor, no longer threatening Elecman any longer, even the joystick no longer works. "I lost control." He spoke.

As Kevin exits out the power plant, he saw a red Sniper Joe with a beam saber, which is the same Sniper Joe he ran over moments ago. It swings its saber at the green

Maverick Hunter, trying to slice him in half.

"Take it easy!" Kevin yelled, but the Sniper Joe didn't say anything. It kept swinging, over and over again. "I wish i had an arm cannon to save my life," He thought.

Luckily, a Hyper Bomb came out of nowhere, blowing the red Joe to bits, and the beam saber fell to the ground. Kevin turned around to see Bombman, who saved his life twice in one night.

"Those things aren't easy to get rid of with a bike," Bombman spoke, "Especially the red ones."

"I see." Kevin replied. He picks up the beam saber, thinking that Zero may like it. "I better get to Zero, he should've freed Elecman by now."

Bombman nodded, "Let's go!"

Zero jumps back to the office with Elecman free from the berserk machinery. "I'm not done with you yet, Zero!"

"Neither am i!" Zero replied. He almost threw another Rolling Cutter at Elecman but kicks him in the face. As Zero falls to the floor, he began to strangle the crimson hunter, and attempted to shock him once more.

"Zero!"

The shouting came from Kevin, as he already arrived in the mansion alongside Bombman, who is getting the previous mayor to safety. He throws the beam saber to Zero as it

landed on his hand, grabbing it, he sliced Elecman's arm off, freeing him. Once he got up, he checked out the beam saber, "I always wanted one of these," he thought happily.

"You maniac!" Elecman screamed at Zero, he's about to use the Thunder Beam, but he sliced the last arm off.

"Now you're unarmed," Zero spoke, he fires one Rolling Cutter at Elecman, cutting his mask off, revealing black hair.

"Okay! Okay! I give up!" Elecman whined. "I'm not worthy to fight you any longer! Whatever you do, don't slice me ever again with either weapon!"

"Is he surrendering?" Kevin spoke.

"I'm not letting my guard down, it may be a trick." Zero added.

"Please, take my Thunder Beam and give it to Rave, and I'll surrender peacefully...!" Elecman eventually fainted, due to battery fluid running down from sides of his upper body from losing his arms. Zero hold Elecman's hand and the Thunder Beam is transferred into his weapon data.

"Never mind." Said Zero, as Elecman didn't do any more harm after he fainted.

Bombman came into the office with the mayor. "Whoa, Z! You got him good!"

"It's official, all of your brothers are saved from Wily."

"All right!" Bombman cheered. "There's a lot of mess out there, maybe we should plan a clean-up party to celebrate before the counterattack against Wily."

Zero grinned, but began to have a minor headache. "Good idea."

Elecman, is the last robot master to have the "INACTIVE" tag on his mugshot.

Dr. Wily has fallen asleep on the floor after working on his new robots. Bass came to the room and check on him. Instead of giving him the bad news (which that'll have to wait till later), he gives him a pillow and a blanket. "Goodnight pops," He whispered, before leaving the room.

Bass tried not to trip any of the upcoming robots that his creator is working on, leaving a huge mess with parts scattered around the floor. He kept the lights on dim rather than turning them off, otherwise Wily would trip over on everything in the dark once he wakes up. The outside of the Skull Fortress' lights have also turned off as well.

Tomorrow is Dr. Wily's last stand against the Light family, he already built the Yellow Devil, CWU-01P, the Copy Machine and the Wily Machine no.1 as his last lines of his defense. If Wily fails, the _Day of Sigma_ will come.

Once Rave is fully repaired, he will show no mercy to the Blue Bomber.

**_To be continued_**  
**_Next: Wily Fortress Part 1 (Yellow Devil)_**

* * *

**_A/N: Okay, there are two surprise guest Robot Masters in this episode, first, we have Dynaman filling in for Doris the robo-maid in the original Electric Nightmare, and Voltman, filling in for Pharaoh Man. Both Dynaman and Voltman are from the Mega Man PC game. Not to worry, they'll be back._**

**_All six of the Robot Masters have are finally rescued. All that's left is the Wily Fortress!_**


	7. Assault in the Skull Fortress

During the post-midnight hours, Sigma has entered a prison that is meant for androids and robots who did a lot more harm than good, not to mention breaking the first rule of robotics and are pending to be scrapped by request. He sees a purple armored android wearing a helmet that is similar to Boba Fett's, who has been locked up a few days before Wily's reign of terror has begun, for disturbing the peace in downtown Abel City, with wrists and ankles being cuffed together.

He got rid of the restraints, giving the purple android another shot at freedom, but he wasn't happy to see Sigma freeing him.

"Any reason why you came here?" He spoke.

"This is his last day as a tyrant," Sigma replied, "And i need you to help me to keep everything in check while Wily's preparing what's left of his forces to fight against X, whatever you like it or not, Vile."

Vile scoffed, as he's not taking Sigma seriously. He walked away, not wanting to continue listening to him. On his way out, he took care of the robo-police by using his shoulder cannon, blowing them up one by one. Sigma vanished while Vile continues to attack the prison.

The city's warning sirens began blaring, making every single Maverick Hunter drop whatever they're doing and investigate the prison, only to see Vile causing havoc on the robo-police. They tried stopping him but no avail, leaving them no other choice but to contact Zero, who is still at Dr. Light's lab, asleep.

Zero's communicator began beeping, waking him up from his slumber. "Yes?" Zero answered.

"Zero, Vile has escaped from the prison! We need your help!" The voice came from a frightened male Maverick Hunter.

"I'm on my way, just stay put!" Zero sighed, and already teleported from the lab, with a sports bag with several E-Tanks in it. With Vile escaping and the occasional headaches everytime Wily is mentioned, he won't be able to help Rave stop Dr. Wily and the last of his robo-army the following day, but he'll try to find a way to make it up to him, one way or another.

Not only Sigma's idea of the human-free world is still fresh in his mind, he has held what appears to be a small, chibi-like version of Rave inside of a capsule, with outlined wings on his back, and wearing a pair of hockey puck-shaped eyeglasses. He is constantly banging the glass, while floating in mid-air, calling for help.

As dawn approaches in Dr. Light's lab, Rave slowly opened his eyes for the first time since his battle with Cutman yesterday. He stood up from the repair table underdressed, only wearing a pair of blue boxer shorts. He would worry about that in a little bit, as he looks at his "X"-shaped scar on his chest, thinking that his father/creator should cover it up, but at the same time, he doesn't want him to, due to the fact that the scar has given Rave the nickname "X", which is more than a simple alphabet letter, but it has a meaning; it is a variable.

He turned around to see Elecman and Cutman on their repair tables. Zero bought both of them back to Dr. Light while he was in repairs. As a result, all of the six domestic robots, who were reprogrammed by Dr. Wily, are saved by Rave, Iceman and Zero.

He got off the repair table and puts on his trademark dark blue battle armor with the black bodysuit underneath, he began to stock up on several E-Tanks, knowing that tackling the last of Wily's forces is not going to be an easy task.

Rave turned around to see a new device that Dr. Light has created, which is sitting on a desk. The device is called the "Magnet Beam", according to a small note next to it. He picked it up and examined it carefully.

Speaking of Dr. Light, he entered the room as he sees his older son looking at the Magnet Beam device. "I created that for you," he started.

"You did?" Rave added. "What does it do?"

Light grinned, "The Magnet Beam creates platforms for you to jump on. It is useful against many dangerous obsticles, such as bottomless pits, spikes, and skipping over Yoku Block sections."

Rave chuckled with joy, thinking he should have the Magnet Beam a few days earlier when he had trouble with the Yoku Block sections back in the frozen tundra. "This device will be come in handy." He then changes the subject a bit. "Where's everyone?"

"Guts Man, Bomb Man and Fire Man are at the city cleaning up from Elec Man's unusual habit of controlling electronics," Light replied, "Zero might've went home after recovering him from Wily's programming, Ice Man is making sno cones with Roll, and Rock, i hadn't seen him since i woke up, he might be around here, somewhere."

Rock is in the basement once more, who is finished working the buster arm cannon. It isn't perfect, as it lacks the energy meter like Rave has. He put it on and starts pointing it at thin air, since there's no one else in the basement but him. He took the arm cannon off and puts it in his backpack, hiding it from everyone else. He grabbed the backpack and leaves.

At the Skull Fortress, Bass is watching the news about Vile destroying the prison while having breakfast with his creator, Dr. Wily, finally taking a break from building his new and upcoming robot army. He seems be fascinated about Vile and his actions, thinking he could be a great addition to his army. Bass doesn't think so.

"Look at him!" Wily shouted in amazement, "He has a shoulder cannon and a Ride Armor, with such weaponry, he could be a great member of my army. He blows everything up! Punching the living snot out these police-bots one by one!"

Bass isn't interested with the subject. He rolled his eyes and eats a piece of bacon. Then shows his father the laptop, pulled up the mugshots of the six Robot Masters, all with _"INACTIVE"_ tags over them.

Wily spits out his orange juice after he saw that. "That cursed Rave and that little Iceman!" He shouted. "At least i got the Yellow Devil, the CWU-01P, my Wily Machine, the Copy Machines and you, to take out that cursed blue pest!"

"I'll be looking forward to that," Bass spoke. "What about that big green dynamite robot you stole from that Peister guy? I hadn't seen him for awhile."

Wily's eye's widened, he forgot to activate some of the robots he stole. Although Elecman might have gotten hold of Voltman and Dynaman, to do his bidding while he wasn't looking.

"I'm beginning to think that Rave is going to do to you like that one kid who dressed up as a superhero who stopped Havel and his gang." Bass spoke again, noticing an unusual (but common) pattern.

"Oh, i won't fail like Havel did," Wily replied, "It's a shame he died 30 years ago, but he wasn't that old during that time, as he was only 35 when he met that so-called Thunderblast Man, who looks anything but an actual superhero. He is nothing more than a cosplayer begging for attention."

Bass snickered. "What till you see him today. He's still cosplaying!"

"What is wrong with that guy?" Wily thought, "I thought he had outgrown that by now!" After a few seconds, he dropped the subject and began focusing on getting Rave out of the picture. _"Bring in the Yellow Devil."_

Rave teleported outside of the Skull Fortress, only to see that he's rudely greeted by two Big Eye robots, he kicked one of them before he shot the other one with his X-Buster and kicked several Kamadoma's out of the way as he began to enter the fortress. "That's odd," Said Rave, as he sees the fortress' enterance is being blocked by huge canisters. He switched to the Super Arm weapon to throw the canisters out of the way, he switched back to the X-Buster as he enters.

"Oh my..." He gasped, as he sees a series of spike pits across the room with several Foot Holders. He jumped on each and one of them to avoid falling down on the spikes, which is every _Mega Man's_ worse nightmare.

It didn't help that there are no Foot Holders in the next spike pit room, so Rave had to change to the Magnet Beam and began shooting out blue, transparent platforms, jumping over the dangerous hazards. "Wily's sure has this place rigged with spikes!" He thought. "I'm glad my dad created the Magnet Beam for me to use..."

Back at Dr. Light's lab, Rock, wearing a yellow shirt with a blue star on it, brown shorts and white sneakers with yellow socks, and of course, his backpack with the Mega Buster prototype in it. He sees his sister, and wants to talk to her before he leaves the laboratory. "Roll, I'm going to pick up a few things at the store," He spoke.

"At a time like this?" Roll replied.

Rock nodded. "It'll only be for a couple of minutes, if Wily's forces haven't invaded the city yet."

"Oh, all right. Just for a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay, little sister." Rock finished, as he leaves the laboratory and enters the garage and hopped on his Land Chaser. He is not really going to the store to pick up a few things, he's going to the desert plain where Wily's Skull Fortress is located, wanting to help his older brother on capturing Dr. Wily.

"I'm going to help you, brother. Please don't get mad at me..."

Back at the Skull Fortress, Rave already began seeing the "Dr. W" logo on a trap door, thinking the first segment of the Skull Fortress is already short and sweet, but it won't be as he he jumps down a pit as the doors opened. He landed on what appears to be...

"Yellow slime...?" Rave spoke in a confusing tone. "Whatever it's made out of, it is certainly not cheese."

The slime spins in a tornado-like fashion, turning into a huge ball as it comes together, with arms and legs coming out of it, as well as a giant red eye opened from its eyelid.

"Bumo!" The slime spoke with a distorted voice, "Bumomomomo! Bumomomo? Bumomo!"

"I don't want to hurt you," Rave replied, although not understanding its language too well, "If you give me a chance to see Wily without-"

The Yellow Devil smacked him around without finishing his sentence.

"I guess that's a no." Said Rave, rubbing his cheek after the Yellow Devil attacked him. He aimed at its eye, shooting several plasma shots before it turns into a tornado of blobs, and another one for morphing back into its beast form. Rave tried dodging most of the blobs, but one of them just splatted on his face, wiping it off. "Gross!"

Rave switched to the Thunder Beam, his armor colors change to gray and yellow, thinking that slime will conduct electricity. The Yellow Devil shot several small beams of plasma at him, but dodges a few of them, as he jumped and fired a Thunder Beam at it, electrocuting it like there's no tomorrow. It's super effective!

The Yellow Devil melts into a large puddle of yellow goo, as it has some more tricks up its sleeve, transforming into a dragon's head, ramming into Rave as it melts back into a puddle. He got back up, trying to get the slime off of him, but is suddenly held the Yellow Devil as it returns to its regular form, throwing Rave across the room. "Bumomo! Bumo!" It raises both of its arms in the air in a triumphant tone.

An E-Tank rolled out of Rave's bag, he got up and drinks it before the Yellow Devil sees him. He fired another Thunder Beam shot, zapping it again, melting into a puddle once more. As Rave stood in it, it transformed into a mouth of a dragon, trying to chew him up. It spits him out as it finished, melting back into a puddle.

"I think the Thunder Beam is just going to make it more madder and madder." Rave complained, he saw the Yellow Devil transforming into a huge hydra, trying to strike at him. He jumped on its head, giving it another taste of the Thunder Beam weapon as it opens it mouth.

The Yellow Devil Hydra tries to get rid of the Thunder Beam aftertaste, but failed. It melts as it turns back into a tornado of blobs spinning around, and it's heading towards Rave. He tried to hold on to a nearby pipe on a wall, trying not to get sucked into the slimy vortex. The tornado decided to go in reverse as it shoots the blobs out at Rave at an alarming speed. One blob splatted at Rave once more, and he isn't really amused by the attack, either.

The blobs crawl back into one spot to emerge back into the tornado, but it doesn't end there as another batch of yellow slime began to leak from the pipes, also turning into a tornado as well. Rave couldn't believe it with his eyes, as there's not only one Yellow Devil, but two Yellow Devils at once! As they return back to their regular forms.

"I hope i got enough Thunder Beam to take care of these two..." Rave spoke in horror, gulped, not sure if he wants to stop two Yellow Devils at once. He wishes that Zero was here to help him, but unfortunately, that's not the case right now.

The Yellow Devils performed a high five, greeting its brother in its language, as they both melt into a giant puddle, flooding the room. Rave switches back to the Magnet Beam, creating and jumping on its platforms in order to escape the flood, and attempts to open the trap door with his X-Buster, but has no effect. _"Sizzling Circuits!"_

Rock has finally reached the Skull Fortress with some of its entrance forces destroyed. He jumped out of his Ride Chaser and enters the fortress' front door, only to see a spike room that Rave was in earlier.

"Darn it!" Rock stomped his foot in frustration, thinking that he won't be able to find his brother at a room like this. He goes back outside to grab the Ride Chaser and gets back on it, re-entering the fortress with it, hovering over the spikes. "I don't want to fall off..." Rock said to himself, as he develops a fear of spike traps of all kind.

"Huh?" As he entered the next room, Rock begins to see yellow slime oozing out of the air ducts, he couldn't help but figure out where is it coming from. He grabbed the prototype Mega Buster arm cannon, putting it on his arm, replacing his hand as the nozzle coming out. "Time to really test this out," He spoke, he fired a golden plasma shot at the air duct, creating a medium-sized hole and the slime began rushing out of it.

Rave watched the Yellow Devils flushing out of the hole, thinking that Zero is here to save him using his Z-Buster. As soon as the flooding subsides, he sees his younger brother Rock entering the room, with buster in hand!

"Rock!" Rave shouted as he jumps down on the platforms, "What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to help you bring Wily to justice!" Rock replied.

"When did you-?!" He stopped as he sees the Mega Buster prototype on his younger brother's arm, "When did you get a buster arm cannon?!"

"Just today."

Rave's eyes has lowered, thinking that Rock shouldn't be here, as he should be home with his sister, his father, and the rescued robot masters. "Rock, for your own safety, get back on your Ride Chaser and go home!"

"No way, Rave Thomas!" Rock refused, "I'm staying with you!"

"You don't know what Wily's forces are capable of!"

The Yellow Devils weren't finished yet as they're soaked into a spike pit. They eventually turn into a GIANT Yellow Devil while the brothers aren't looking. It broke their argument as it stomps on Rock's Ride Chaser, breaking it into pieces. They turned their heads to see the giant Yellow Devil walking towards them.

"I guess i got my wish!" Rock yelled while looking at the giant Yellow Devil.

"Can this get any worse?" Rave added, while switching back to the Thunder Beam weapon.

As it approached the brothers, Rock shoots the Yellow Devil with the Mega Buster prototype, it has little effect against it. Rave fired the last Thunder Beam at the Yellow Devil, it missed as it ducked into a puddle and transforms back into a hydra.

"Shoot! I'm out of Thunder Beam ammo!" Rave shouted. He looks at the weapons panel hologram from the X-Buster, looking through the other weapons he already has, but he spots one weapon that he never obtained before in the artilery, and that is... "Force Field?!" He shouted, "How did that get here?!"

"Try using that one!" Rock yelled as he looked at the Yellow Devil Hydra as it gets closer to the brothers, "As long as it'll stop this giant pile of processed cheese from attacking us!"

Rave switched to the Force Field weapon that Zero obtained while fighting Voltman last night, his armor color changes to red and yellow. He grabbed his brother as he activates the the Force Field, surrounding the brothers with a yellow, electrical circle as the Yellow Devil Hydra attacks them one more time.

Luckily, the Yellow Devil Hydra melts into a puddle, screaming after its eye has been electrocuted by the Force Field. Aside from being covered in slime, Rave and Rock has made it out alive and well. They both looked at each other, smiling and laughing.

"We did it," Rave started, "The Force Field worked."

"See, i told you i could help!" Rock added, giving his older brother a fist bump, or better yet, a Mega Brofist.

"Well, i guess you can stay with me a little longer."

"Yes!" Rock hugged his brother, "With me around, Wily is no match for us! Just think of the possibilities of us being a great team!"

As much as Rock wants to fight alongside Rave, the latter began to think about what Zero's been up to since he left. And another thing, he turned around to see a Pepe penguin floating up and down, staring at the brothers. "Why is there a stray Pepe here?" He throught.

The Pepe, however, is no stray, as it monitors Rave's every move using a built in camera in order to check on him upon the request of Iceman. He ensures Light and Roll that Rock never went to the store, only to go to the Skull Fortress instead.

"I can't believe this!" Roll yelled, "He lied to me in order to get to Dr. Wily's hideous Skull Fortress!"

"He finally made that decision to become another super fighting robot like his brother," Iceman added, "And it's not just about stopping Dr. Wily, but Sigma too."

"How come he never spoke to me about becoming a combat android?" Dr. Light joined in.

"I bet he wanted to keep that as a secret to avoid us knowing about it, sir." Iceman replied.

"A secret?" Said Roll.

"Yes. Pretty much why he was busy yesterday, and we got the proof. He's got an arm cannon, modified by himself! It's already too late to stop Rock from experiencing the _Day of Sigma_ once Wily stands down, and he's going to have those thoughts for the rest of his life."

"Why couldn't Rave stop him?" Roll sits down on a chair, with a worried look.

"He tried everything, plus that giant rock monster just destroyed his Ride Chaser and he has no chance of returning back home without it. He'll have to do what he has to do, miss Roll." Iceman finished, as he sits down also.

"I don't like it... But it's the only way to regain peace." Dr. Light continued to look at the computer screen, with a scared, but hopeful look on his face.

"I know, sir. I know." The tiny Eskimo robot tried his best to comfort Roll because of this situation, either of them couldn't wait to see Wily bring brought to justice, but they wanted Rock and Rave back home afterward when the time comes. They'll have to be ready for it, too.

At downtown Abel City, Vile has left a trail of destruction, leaving several Maverick Hunters blown up and injuried, only a few of them remain alive, including Rave's friend, Zero, who is in the Maverick Hunter Base's medical ward, looking after the injured hunters. He too has sustained some damage and is sitting on the repair table. He is sending Rave a message about Vile, thinking that Sigma has made his move a little too early.

Bombman, Fireman, and Gutsman came across the damage that Vile left, luckily they weren't attacked as they stayed in Jupiter Street picking up various electronics from last night's _Electric Nightmare_, courtesy of Abel City's ex-mayor Elecman, rather than going downtown which is the danger zone.

"Whoa!" Bombman exclaimed, "What happened here?"

"Whatever that is, the damage might've came from a Ride Armor," Gutsman added.

"And should be brought to justice!" Fireman also joined in.

"I think Sigma might've attacked this city too early and the rest of Wily's forces aren't dried up yet. I think we should warn Rave about this and head on down to the underground laboratory."

"Let's not panic yet, Bombman. I don't think he's that small to ride something like this."

"If his feet doesn't destroy it first." Fireman snickered.

"I know Rock is worried about this, and so am i. He can't just do it right off the bat."

"We need to head to the Maverick Hunter base to find answers, since they know what's going on with this Sigma stuff better than we do."

"Great idea, Fireman." Bombman ended. The three robot masters leave Jupiter Street and head to downtown Abel City where the Maverick Hunter base is located, searching for clues and answers about Sigma's upcoming big day as the new king of world domination.

Sure, Wily's still in control, but for now.

**_To be continued_**  
**_Next: Wily Fortress Part 2 (Boss Refights and Copy Robot)_**

* * *

**_A/N: Bass and Wily mentioned the two characters from the infamous Rocman X/Thunder Blast Man pirate bootleg (that tries to be like a Mega Man game but failed) for the NES and Game Boy Color, Thunderblast Man (the hero) and Havel (the villain). Even through they're not actual Mega Man characters (and not made by Capcom either, as the pirate itself is made by Sachen, a Taiwanese bootleg game company), i decided to mention them on here.  
_**

**_It's a shame i never made an "orgin" story for Countdown to Regeneration, either, as it already began in "The Iceman Cometh". I may plan on writing it, but right now, i can't wait for the Boss Refights/Copy Robot chapter.  
_**


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